ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said on Thursday that Pakistan was fighting the war against terrorism and any blame-game against it was similar to weakening counter-terrorism efforts.
Islamabad warned the United States and Afghanistan to stop accusing Pakistan of carrying out limited efforts against terrorist groups in the region.
At his weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria reaffirmed that India was involved in supporting the terrorist activities in the country.
“Pakistan has been fighting its war against terrorism and carried out Operations Zarb-e-Azb, Raddul Fasaad and Operation Khyber IV under a comprehensive counter-terrorism (CT) strategy and the National Action Plan,” he said. “Pakistan and its people have suffered immensely due to terrorism, both in terms of human and financial losses,” he said.
“Besides these costs, we incur huge expenditure on counter-terrorism operations. Various countries of the world, including the US, have acknowledged our efforts and sacrifices in fighting the menace of terrorism. The mere rhetoric of blame game is counter-productive, and serves no one,” he said.
He requested the international community to take notice of the crimes against minorities in India. “In a disturbing and gruesome episode, an unprotected Muslim was dragged in the streets and brutally murdered with swords by Hindu extremists,” he said.
“Daily lynching of Muslims, Christians, Dalits in public by cow vigilantes and Hindutva proponents are manifestations of rising extremism, religious intolerance and bigotry in India, which are a cause of international concern,” he said.
“International human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have amply reported on this. Regrettably, situation for the religious minorities and vulnerable segments of their society is worsening with each passing day,” he said.
The FO spokesperson raised the issue of occupied Kashmir and Indian forces’ brutality in the valley. “Since July 8, 2016, hundreds of Kashmiris have been mercilessly killed, over 8,000 injured by pellet guns, over 18,000 arrested and around a thousand cases of molestation of Kashmiri women have been reported,” he said.
Published in Daily Times, July 28th , 2017.
