Zahid-Hafeez-ChaudhriPakistan on Thursday said that Indian forces had martyred three Kashmiris and arbitrarily arrested half a dozen in a week in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, just a day before Islamabad is set to observe February 5 as Kashmir Solidarity Day. Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, in his weekly press briefing, said: “In [a] brazen manifestation of state terrorism, the Indian occupation forces martyred 3 more Kashmiris, in fake encounters and staged cordon-and-search operations in Tral and Pulwama.” The unabated cold-blooded murders and brutalisation of innocent Kashmiris are a clear manifestation of state terrorism to which unarmed Kashmiris have been subjected for over seven decades, he noted. Chaudhri said that prominent Kashmiri leadership continues to remain incarcerated in Indian prisons under inhuman conditions on false and fabricated charges. Meanwhile, the BJP-RSS regime continues its despicable efforts to change the demographic structure of IOJK in clear violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and international law, including the 4th Geneva Convention, he said. Sharing statistics to back his statement, he said that according to the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, 3,380,234 fake Domicile Certificates have already been issued till 25 January 2021. “The international community must take immediate cognizance of this dire situation and take practical steps to stop India from such illegal and inhuman actions,” he stressed. Responding to a question that Pakistan aimed at making AJK a province, he said that “we have been repeatedly saying that there is absolutely no change in Pakistan’s principled position on Jammu & Kashmir dispute.” Moving forward, he said that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had received a batch of 500,000 doses of Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine this week. The foreign minister had thanked the leadership and the people of China for sending the gift of the COVID vaccine to Pakistan to help fight the pandemic. Chaudhri said that FM Qureshi and US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken had a telephone conversation, where he underscored Pakistan’s commitment to forging a comprehensive partnership with the United States based on the convergence of interests on a whole range of issues. Highlighting the transformation in Pakistan, the foreign minister stressed that the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan had a new vision that placed a premium on forging an economic partnership, building a peaceful neighbourhood, and enhancing regional connectivity. FM Qureshi told Secretary Blinken that peace in Afghanistan through a negotiated political settlement was one of the fundamental convergences between Pakistan and the United States. In the context of recent developments in the Daniel Pearl case, the foreign minister underscored that it was important and in the mutual interest that justice is served through legal means.