While condemning the provocative remarks by India’s defence minister, made on 26 July 2023, in Drass, Ladakh, boasting readiness to cross the Line of Control in Kashmir, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch says Pakistan is fully capable of defending itself against any aggression as demonstrated in its forceful response to India’s misadventure in February 2019.
In a statement issued in Islamabad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “We counsel India to exercise utmost caution as its belligerent rhetoric is a threat to the regional peace and stability, and contributes to destabilizing the strategic environment in South Asia.”
The statement further said, “This is not the first time that India’s political leaders and senior military officers have made highly irresponsible remarks about Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. This kind of jingoistic statements must stop. The Indian leadership is reminded that Pakistan is fully capable of defending itself against any aggression.”
The Foreign Ministry further said, “The practice of dragging Pakistan into India’s populist public discourse, with a view to stoking hyper-nationalism and reaping electoral gains, needs to end.”
Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran and dishonouring of the Pakistani flag in Copenhagen and said it had lodged a strong protest with the Government of Denmark to stop such acts of hatred and incitement.
“We expect the Danish authorities to take all measures necessary to stop such acts of hatred and incitement,” a foreign office spokesperson said in a statement.
The intent of such evil acts is to insult two billion Muslims around the world and create friction amongst communities, cultures, and countries. These acts, by any definition, do not constitute freedom of expression. Nor can the permission to carry out provocative acts of religious hatred be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression, opinion and protest.
As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said, “speech and inflammatory acts against Muslims are offensive, irresponsible and wrong” the statement added.
