ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday termed the US administration’s move to designate three Chinese entities on the charges of supplying missile applicable items to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program as a contradiction to its policy of export control waivers granting access to India to advance military technologies, undermining the strategic stability in South Asia.
“In the past, we have seen entities added to the Entity List on suspicion and involving uncontrolled items invoking the catch-all clauses in national export controls.
As such, we do not see any new element in this latest order,“ said Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch at her weekly media briefing in response to queries.
Missile parts supplies to Pakistan? US puts sanctions on three Chinese companies
She added that such designations contradict the US policy of export control waivers granting access to India to advanced military technologies, “which we believe are undermining the strategic stability in South Asia.”
On October 20, the US State Department designated three Chinese firms namely, General Technology Limited, Beijing Luo Luo Technology Development Co Ltd, and Changzhou Utek Composite Company Ltd. on the charges of having worked to supply missile applicable items to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program.
While referring to the situation in occupied Palestine, she said that it remains a source of serious concern for Pakistan and hoped that the upcoming special emergency session of the UN General Assembly will play its role in bringing about an urgent and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and condemn the plans for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
She regretted that despite the rising death toll of Palestinians and flagrant violations of international humanitarian laws, the UN Security Council failed to even call for a ceasefire and put an end to the carnage in Gaza.
She said that the international community must also ensure that Israeli violence and bombing campaign does not spread and engulf the entire Middle East. “We urge the backers of Israel to play their role in bringing an end to this atrocity and take effective steps to lift the siege of Gaza and support a sustainable pipeline of life-saving humanitarian assistance, including water, fuel, food, and medicines for the besieged people of Gaza,” she said, adding that the international community must also ensure that the violence and the bombing campaign do not spread and engulf the entire Middle East.
She said that Pakistan believes that durable peace in the Middle East will emerge from a two-state solution and the creation of a secure, viable and contiguous state of Palestine on the basis of pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
“The script being enacted by Israeli occupation forces in Palestine is being replicated by India in IIOJK with egregious human rights violations and blatantly illegal attempts to change the demographic nature of the occupied territory,” she added.
About reforms in the UN Security Council and its failure to enforce a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, she said that Pakistan’s position on reform of the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, is that it needs to be more responsive to the requirements and needs of the international community, including its proactive role in resolution of endemic disputes such as the question of Palestine and the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
“We believe the expansion of the Security Council or any reform should be democratic in nature. Instead of creating new centres of privilege, we should democratize the United Nations Security Council to make it more representative, transparent, effective, and accountable,” she added.
To a question about India’s latest ceasefire violation on the Line of Control (LoC), she said that Pakistan has always called for peace and dialogue including on the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
She said the current situation demands that New Delhi ensures that the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir are able to live in peace without intimidation.
She said the people of IIOJK will never accept and have never accepted the illegal occupation of their land. She said Pakistan will continue to extend political, moral, and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people until the realisation of their inherent right to self-determination as per the UN Security Council resolutions.
When asked about the repatriation of illegal foreign nationals, she said this decision has been taken as per the country’s national laws to ensure the safety and security of Pakistan. She said we have also informed the Afghan authorities that this policy is not Afghan-specific.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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