Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday rejected a resolution passed by the Indian Punjab Assembly asking Islamabad to swap Kartarpur with India for another piece of land.

“There is absolutely no question of any land swap,” Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal told a news briefing in Islamabad.

The spokesman said Pakistan opened the corridor purely on humanitarian basis just to facilitate the Sikh community. There cannot be any swapping of land, he categorically stated.

When his attention was drawn to an Indian attempt of taking a Pakistani property – Jinnah House – in Mumbai under its control, Dr Faisal said that any attempt by India to take the House under its control would not be accepted. “India has already accepted that it (Jinnah House) belongs to Pakistan,” he told reporters.

The spokesman strongly condemned the ongoing killing spree by Indian occupation forces in held Kashmir and called upon the international community to take notice of the situation and press India to stop atrocities and bloodshed in the occupied territory. He asked India to allow international human rights organisations to visit Indian-held Kashmir to probe brutalities.

The FO spokesman said India was intentionally violating ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary (WB) to divert the global attention from its worst atrocities in IHK. “Keeping in view the military escalations by Indian forces, India must allow the UN Military Observer Group on India and Pakistan to monitor the situation along the LoC and WB,” the spokesman added.

He reiterated Pakistan’s diplomatic and political support to the people of Kashmir and their just right to self-determination.

He said that Pakistan had also written letters to secretary generals of the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) to take notice of deteriorating situation in Kashmir.

When asked to comment on the recent demolishing of two mosques in Allahabad, India, the spokesperson called upon India to respect minorities’ rights.

Regarding the tripartite talks between Pakistan, China and Afghanistan, the Foreign Office spokesperson said that the three countries held positive discussions. During the second round of Pakistan-Afghanistan-China trilateral dialogue in Kabul, the countries signed a memorandum of understanding on anti-terrorism cooperation.

“All three parties have echoed their determination to curb terrorism. Pakistan has played its part in the Afghan peace process which is being hailed internationally,” Dr Faisal said.

On a recent dialogue between officials from the United States and Afghan Taliban held in UAE, Dr Faisal said Pakistan supports the talks and is hopeful of a peaceful result to the Afghan issue.

“Pakistan is playing its part for the establishment of peace in Afghanistan and wants to find a solution to the issue with the Afghan leadership,” he asserted.

Responding to a question regarding the plight of Pakistani prisoners in various countries, Dr Faisal said that the Pakistani high commissioner in Sri Lanka had met the prisoners and legal proceedings had been initiated to help the jailed Pakistanis.

Moreover, he said a conference of Pakistani ambassadors has been called in Islamabad to promote economic diplomacy.

Published in Daily Times, December 21^st 2018.