Daily Times

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Monday that the establishment always ensures protection of the state’s interests while remaining within the framework of the constitution and the law.

In a statement, the foreign minister stated that India had been continuously shelling at Pakistan’s borders and violating the ceasefire agreement on the Line of Control (LoC), whereas terror incidents were occurring one after the other in Balochistan.

“We have from the beginning been questioning the national service that can be provided by those whose philosophy is in line with India’s.” the minister stated while referring to the opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

He said the opposition promotes India’s narrative every time it criticises the state institutions, that too at a time when India was sponsoring terrorism inside Pakistan.

PDM President and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had, on January 1, warned that the PDM could decide marching towards Rawalpindi – where the Pakistan Army’s headquarters are located – instead of marching to Islamabad – the parliament. The JUI-F reiterated the warning again at the Bahawalpur rally.

“This country is not a property of any dictator or any particular institution. It is also not under anyone’s occupation. This country belongs to its people,” Qureshi added.

Speaking of the January 3 Bahawalpur rally, the foreign minister said that he would not call it a power show as it was a show but “without any power”.

“Who governed Punjab for the last several decades?” Qureshi remarked in reference to Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s comments at the rally that South Punjab has been kept deprived.

“It remains to be seen who deprived South Punjab,” the FM said. “In whose era were the funds diverted elsewhere unfairly? In whose era was the slogan ‘we are prisoners of the throne in Lahore’ popular?” the foreign minister asked.

Qureshi added that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had taken two major decisions regarding South Punjab in the last two-and-a-half years.

“Two administrative secretariats have been set up in Multan and Bahawalpur to devolve power to lower levels,” the FM said. “Special funds have been allocated for South Punjab which will be spent on construction and its development,” he added.

Qureshi, while condemning the killing of 11 coal miners in Balochistan the other day, said India was carrying out such attacks through hybrid warfare to spread fear among the people and affect investment in Pakistan.

“The incident was unfortunate and highly condemnable,” he said. “The opposition leadership from Balochistan should take interest in the affairs of the province and work for the protection of lives and property of the people,” Qureshi stated.

He added that the European Union’s report had revealed the real face of India and that Pakistan had also presented crucial evidence and facts regarding Indian terrorism to the world through a dossier.

“India has buried the concept of secularism due to its Hindutva policies,” the FM stressed. “Today in India, minorities are being walled-off by discriminatory laws. Farmers across India are protesting. Today, the international media is also openly writing against India,” he added.

Pakistan had been raising the issue of Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir (IIOJK) at every forum and would continue to do so, he added.

“The movement for self-determination will surely succeed,” Qureshi stressed.

Talking about the incarceration of Kashmiri human rights activist and political leader Asiya Andrabi, the FM said that she raised new enthusiasm among Kashmiri women from the forum of her organisation Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) and raised a strong and effective voice against the humiliation of Kashmiri women by the Indian occupying forces.

“She has been imprisoned for the last 15 years on false charges to suppress this effective voice,” Qureshi said. “We have sent letters to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and to the Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, demanding that all these leaders should be provided free and fair trial all political prisoners should be released immediately.”

Pakistan has also demanded UN to ensure implementation of two impartial inquiry reports of the Human Rights Commissioner regarding serious human rights violations in IIOJK and conduct a transparent and impartial inquiry into the ground realities through the United Nations Commission of Inquiry.