Pakistan rejects India's 'distortion, falsification' of facts from UN's report on Taliban

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday categorically rejected Indian foreign ministry's "distortion and falsification of the contents" of a United Nations' report on the Taliban and situation in Afghanistan.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Foreign Office said: "Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has misrepresented the Eleventh Report of the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team (MT) concerning the Taliban and other associated individuals and entities constituting the threat to the peace, stability and security of Afghanistan, to slander Pakistan.

"Pakistan categorically rejects India’s malicious allegations, which are aimed at misleading the international community," it added.

Noting that there was no reference to “safe havens” in Pakistan in the Monitoring Team (MT) report, the statement said it was based on the briefings provided to the MT by "certain quarters who have long expressed skepticism about the Afghan peace process".

"This skepticism is not shared by the larger international community, especially the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General," the Foreign Office added.

"The MEA’s distortion and falsification of the contents of the MT report and its concocted allegations reveal that India’s agenda is to create complications for the Afghan peace process," it mentioned.

"Pakistan has warned the world about the role of spoilers within and outside Afghanistan. Pakistan has been highlighting India’s sponsorship of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan against Pakistan.

"The MT report endorses Pakistan’s stance that Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is operating from Afghanistan and with Indian support threatens Pakistan and other countries in the region," it noted.

The statement also underscored how Pakistan already proposed to list several Indian terrorism facilitators on the UNSC terrorism list along with evidence of their involvement in terrorism. Pakistan expressed hope the UNSC "will designate them soon".

According to the statement, the UN report "assessed that foreign terrorist fighters from India are traveling to Afghanistan to join the ISIL-Khorasan (ISIL-K)".

"Security Council resolutions require India to prevent the travel of terrorists to Afghanistan to join ISIL-K. The Report also notes that an Indian national, the leader of AI Qaeda in the Indian Sub­ Continent, was killed by international forces last year in Afghanistan.

"Earlier reports of MT also highlight the growing strength of ISIL in India and its role in Easter Sunday attack in 2019. India has been using terrorism as state policy to destabilize its neighboring states, including Pakistan.

"The people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) have long suffered from India’s state terrorism, especially after the cruel lockdown and oppression imposed by the RSS-inspired BJP-led extremist government since 5 August 2019," it added.

Buddhist cultural heritage in Gilgit-Baltistan

In response to a question, the FO spokesperson said: "Pakistan completely rejects baseless Indian contentions regarding Buddhist cultural heritage in Gilgit Baltistan. The Indian allegations are contrary to the historical facts, international law and relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions."

"Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory recognized as such by the international community. The Dispute is the longest outstanding item on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) which remains unresolved due to forcible, brutal and illegal occupation of a part of Jammu and Kashmir by India since 1947.

"The regurgitation of false and preposterous Indian claims does not change the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian government’s contentions concerning the Buddhist cultural heritage in Gilgit-Baltistan are preposterous. These are part of Indian leadership’s unrelenting anti-Pakistan propaganda.

"With its tarnished human rights record in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) and abdication of responsibility to protect its minorities from Hindu extremists, the RSS-BJP government has no credentials whatsoever even to feign concern for minorities, either at home or elsewhere.

"India’s state terrorism and extra judicial killings in fake encounters in IOJ&K, vandalization and destruction of minorities’ places of worship including the historic Babri Mosque, lynchings by cow vigilantes under government’s watch, Gujarat massacre of 2002 and targeted killings of Muslims in Delhi in February 2020, and rendering millions of people stateless with discriminatory steps such as NRC are well documented by international human rights and humanitarian organisations.

"Rather than pretending concerns for minorities beyond its borders, it is time for Indian leadership to do serious introspection and take requisite steps to safeguard and protect the lives, rights and places of workshop of minorities in India.

"India must realize that its baseless contentions about Gilgit-Baltistan cannot divert international attention away from the Jammu &Kashmir dispute and the need for its immediate resolution in accordance with the relevant UNSC Resolutions and aspirations of Kashmiri people.

"Till the implementation of UNSC Resolutions through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, no illegal and unilateral action or repetition of false claims by India can alter the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir," it added.