ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office, Thursday, said that the participation of 42 nations in the Multinational Maritime Exercise AMAN-21 was manifestation of Pakistan’s global engagement, and asserted that contrary to the New Delhi’s propaganda, Islamabad enjoys friendly and cooperative ties with the comity of nations.
Speaking at his weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said that with the participation of 42 nations, including ships and aircrafts from China, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the US, and the UK, AMAN-21 was yet another manifestation of Pakistan’s global engagement and abiding commitment and contribution to the promotion of international peace and security.
“Contrary to the Indian propaganda, Pakistan enjoys friendly and cooperative relations with the comity of nations,” he added.
The seventh edition of the Pakistan Navy’s Multinational Maritime Exercise AMAN-21 concluded on Tuesday.
President Arif Alvi attended the event as the chief guest.
During his briefing, the spokesperson referred to the visit of a selected group of foreign diplomats based in New Delhi to the occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, saying that amid unprecedented military siege since 5th August 2019, India continues its efforts to mislead the world community.
As part of its propaganda, he added that India has taken another group of New Delhi based diplomats on a “guided tour” to the IIOJK.
“The fact that the people of IIOJK greeted the envoys with spontaneous and voluntary strike has evidently expressed the true feelings of the Kashmiri people against the illegal Indian occupation,” he said.
He recalled that the choreographers of last such visit to the IIOJK had come under sharp international criticism for presenting retired soldiers as apple growers to the visiting envoys.
“We believe that such guided tours are a smokescreen, aimed at diverting international attention from India’s egregious human rights violations in IIOJK and creating a false impression of “normalcy”,” he said, adding that the visit means nothing in the absence of access to all the areas and free interaction with the Kashmiri people and the civil society in an atmosphere free of intimidation.
Equally, meeting the senior Hurriyat leadership including those incarcerated on trumped-up charges would have enabled an objective assessment of the ground realities, he added.
“India must allow the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); the United Nations Observers; the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC); the international human rights and civil society organizations; and the international media to visit IIOJK and assess the situation on ground,” he added.
Responding to a question, the spokesperson urged the Indian government to facilitate aspiring Yatris in their travel to the country.
Chaudhri said that Pakistan provides maximum facilitation to the Sikh Yatris from all over the world, including India, for visiting their religious sites in Pakistan.
In its historic Kartarpur Corridor initiative, he added that Pakistan had opened the largest and the holiest Sikh shrine in Kartarpur Sahib to facilitate Sikh Yatris.
He pointed out that the Sikh as well as the international community, including the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who while visiting Kartarpur described it as “Corridor of Hope”, have immensely appreciated this landmark initiative of Pakistan.
“The Sikh community remains particularly appreciative of the efforts made by Pakistan to complete the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Project in record time and for the excellent arrangements made to facilitate the pilgrims…We believe that India should also facilitate Sikh Yatris for visiting their religious sites in Pakistan,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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