Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui says the world community must ensure protection of the minorities, especially the Muslims and their places of worships and properties in India.
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-March 12nd, 2020) Pakistan urged world community including the UN, the OIC and human rights organization to take practical step against Indian government under Prime Minister Modi from pursuing anti-Muslim policies here on Wednesday.
Giving weekly briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said the world community must ensure protection of the minorities especially the Muslims and their places of worships and properties in India.
Aisha said that the large scale targeted violence against Muslims that took place in New Delhi in the backdrop of highly communal statements by the BJP leaders has been a matter of great concern for Pakistan and it is highly condemnable.
She also condemned the desecration and vandalization of places of worships in New Delhi. She said at least fourteen mosques and one Dargah were reportedly burnt down by Hindutva vigilantes within a span of three to four days. She said these sacred places were deliberately rampaged whilst copies of holy Quran were desecrated.
Voicing concerns over the gross human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and attempts to bring about demographic change there, the spokesperson said Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute which has been reaffirmed repeatedly by the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary General and most recently by the OIC's special envoy on Jammu and Kashmir.
Responding to a question about Afghanistan, the spokesperson said Pakistan has felicitated Ashraf Ghani over his election as the president of the country.
She said Pakistan has maintained that the US-Taliban peace agreement is a historic step towards the ultimate aim of achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan. She said it is now a significant opportunity to move towards the next step of intra Afghan dialogue. She said Pakistan has played its role of facilitator and it is now the responsibility of Afghans and their representatives to take the process forward and arrive at a solution for peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Answering to a question, the spokesperson said necessary steps were taken by the Federal and provincial governments at the airports and border areas to contain the virus. She stated that we were also constituting a plan to see how best our diplomats abroad could be protected against the virus.
To a question, the spokesperson said that Pakistan raised the issue of the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui with the US and our talks on the matter are continuing.
