Rawalpindi: Foreign Office spoke about recent heckling of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, saying “FO takes notice of such incidents involving Pakistani ministers during foreign visits”. Statement from FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed comes a day after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was heckled by unidentified people at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC after he landed in US capital ahead of important meetings with global lending institutions.

Responding to a question at a weekly press briefing, Iftikhar said US officials had also taken notice of misbehaviour with finance minister at US airport. He recalled that Saudi authorities had also taken notice when government delegation was targeted by certain individuals during visit. To another question, FO spokesperson appreciated statement from Germany’s foreign minister regarding Kashmir dispute.

At a press conference, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had said: “Germany also has a role and responsibility with regard to situation in Kashmir. Therefore, we support intensively engagement of United Nations, to find peaceful resolutions in region.” He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also raised Kashmir issue at Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, however, “India is not responding properly to settle dispute.” Earlier, spokesperson also talked about custodial death of Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmed Shah and demanded that Indian government must immediately investigate incident and hold accountable to those who were responsible.

“Pakistan strongly condemns extra-judicial killing of two more Kashmiris in fresh acts of state-sponsored terrorism by Indian occupation forces in IIOJK,” he added.

Spokesperson said latest incidents of violence and hostility perpetrated by Hindutva extremists against Muslims in India, during recent Hindu festivals were a matter of grave concern. “This is yet another manifestation of growing ‘saffron terror’ that has deeply permeated Indian society.” We call upon international community to hold India accountable for its crimes against humanity in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and to take cognisance of rapidly deteriorating situation of Islamophobia in India and resultant threat to safety and security and well-being of its Muslim citizens and other minorities. He recalled statement of Indian Prime Minister’s “farcical contention that he had, somehow, “resolved the Kashmir issue”, was not only false and misleading but also reflected how oblivious Indian leadership had become of ground realities in IIOJK.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 15 2022

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