FO calls on India to refrain from its smear propaganda against Pakistan

The Foreign Office (FO) has called on India to refrain from its propaganda campaign against Pakistan, warning that it will remain determined to "push back against unabated Indian machinations and also to draw attention towards India’s role of a spoiler in the ongoing Afghan peace process".

In a press release issued on Thursday, the FO said that the remarks by the spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi regarding the alleged abduction of the Afghan ambassador's daughter in Islamabad are gratuitous and unwarranted.

"India has no locus standi, whatsoever, on the matter. India’s malicious smear campaign against Pakistan is well-known and independent organizations including EU DisinfoLab have established India’s credentials as purveyor of anti-Pakistan propaganda globally," FO said.

The press release contended that during the incident involving the daughter of the Afghan ambassador, Indian propaganda machinery against Pakistan was active and fake pictures of the ambassador’s daughter were being circulated by Indian Twitter handles and websites.

"The only domains where India has set standards are state-sponsored terrorism, illegal occupation, disregard of UN resolutions, mass murders and repression against women in the territory under its illegal occupation, political violence against minorities, and running organized fake propaganda networks around the world; and is, therefore, in no position to pontificate on ‘standards’ for other countries," FO statement said.

The ministry further said that Pakistan remains determined to draw attention towards India’s role of a spoiler in the ongoing Afghan peace process.

Afghan ambassador's daughter: Kidnapping case to be resolved in 72 hours, says Sheikh Rashid

The FO statement comes following Bagchi's remarks that the abduction of the ambassador's daughter in Pakistan was "very shocking". "I would only like to say that even by their standards, Pakistan’s denial of the victim’s account is stooping to a new low,” the MEA spokesman had said.

Last week, Ambassador Najibullah Alikhil’s daughter Silsila Alikhil was allegedly abducted and tortured by unidentified persons while returning from a bakery in Blue Area, Islamabad. Later, she was dropped alongside a road with her hands and feet tied.

Investigation shows no abduction took place: police

However, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid insisted that it was not a kidnapping incident rather part of a series of attempts to defame and destabilize Pakistan. He said no evidence of her abduction was found during the investigation.

Earlier, National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yousuf also said that investigations indicated that social media accounts that had waged false propaganda regarding Balochistan and Kashmir were the ones that were behind highlighting the so-called abduction of Afghan envoy's daughter.

These accounts are operating from India, Pakistan and other countries, he said.

"Who is behind this, everybody knows. We all remember revelations made by EU DisinfoLab from last year that exposed what India is doing to malign Pakistan -- I don't need to say much about the spoilers -- Pakistan is being made a scapegoat for someone else's failures in Afghanistan," the NSA added.