ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal on Thursday said that the United States had not refused to provide F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan. While addressing the weekly news briefing, he said that the United Nations Military Observe Group in India and Pakistan should be allowed to work to monitor the ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and Working Boundary. He said but it is regrettable that New Delhi is not cooperating in this regard. The spokesperson also said that this year had witnessed an unprecedented escalation in ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation forces resulting in the shahadat of 52 civilians and injuries to 254. In Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir, he said the Indian occupation forces, in their fresh acts of state terrorism, martyred a 47-year old Noor Mohammad Trantray, whose body was recovered from the debris of a house destroyed by Indian occupation forces during crackdown operations in Samboora district, Pulwama. The brutal forces also martyred an eight month old baby of Shaheed Rubeena Jan (who was martyred on 19 December) and six month old baby of Shaheed Misra Bano (who was martyred on 11 December). “We condemn in strongest possible terms the inhumane, brutal and indiscriminate killing of innocent Kashmiris by India and strongly urge the international community to call upon India to account for its grave human rights excesses in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, and call for an immediate halt to the bloodshed of innocent and defenceless Kashmiris by the brutal Indian occupation forces.” Dr Faisal said Pakistan strongly condemned the dastardly terrorist attacks in Kabul, in which many precious human lives were lost while a number of innocent people were injured. Answering another question, the FO spokesperson said the government had raised the issue of disappearance of Colonel Habib Zahir with the Government of Nepal as well as the Government of India. The Government of Nepal was looking into the matter. Published in Daily Times, December 29th 2017.