FO clarifies no plans to offer Pakistan’s air bases to any country against another

By Naveed Siddiqui
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday rubbished ‘speculations’ of Pakistan giving ‘two airbases’ to the United States for its drone surveillance operation against Iran and Afghanistan, saying Pakistan has no plans to offer any of its airbases to any foreign government against any other country.
Responding to media queries during her weekly news briefing about certain claims made on the social media and also by opposition leader in National Assembly Umar Ayub, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch rejected these ‘speculations’ as ‘baseless and unfounded’.
“We reject these baseless and unfounded speculation which absolutely have no basis…Pakistan has no plans to offer [air] bases to a foreign government or military, directed against anyone,” she stated in categorical terms.
To a question about former adviser on accountability Shehzad Akbar’s allegations against several high level Pakistani officials about their alleged involvement in a recent acid attack on him in London, the spokesperson categorically rejected the claims, saying Pakistan never indulges in extraterritorial acts against its own nationals.
“We categorically reject the allegations made by Mr. Shehzad Akbar against the State of Pakistan and its institutions and agencies. These claims are baseless and politically motivated. As we have said in the past, safety and security of Pakistani nationals, wherever they are, are a matter of priority for Pakistan. It’s not the policy of Pakistan to target its own nationals abroad,” she said.
She pointed out that several high profile political dissidents have been living in the United Kingdom for several decades and they have often indulged in vitriol and invective against Pakistan.
“Some of them have maintained links with terrorist entities inside Pakistan. Pakistan has no engaged in any extraterritorial acts against these individuals. So, Mr. Shehzad Akbar’s claims are simple preposterous,” she added.
Commenting on the recent incident faced by German Ambassador Alfred Grannas during an event in Lahore when some pro-Palestine activists interrupted his speech to record protest over Germany’s pro-Israel policy, Baloch termed the exchange between the German Ambassador and the students as regrettable and hoped that the incident would trigger a constructive dialogue on western governments selectivity and double standards on human rights’ issues.
She said that late Asma Jahangir was an icon of human rights and democracy in Pakistan. Throughout her life, the spokesperson added that Asma Jahangir stood for the freedom of expression and opinion.
“It’s understandable that some participants wanted to exercise their fundamental to speech at an event honoring her memory. The ongoing genocide in Gaza has distressed people and heightened passions around the world, including in Pakistan. We hope this weekend’s incident will be a time for reflection and would trigger a constructive dialogue on [western governments] selectivity and double standards on human rights issues,” she added.
Responding to another query about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims that India had informed Pakistan prior to the February 2019 Balakot incident, she refuted the claims, saying that there has been a rewriting of the history as many statements have come since the incident which are not based on facts and aimed at taking political mileage.
She also stated that the people and armed forces of Pakistan are ready to defend the country against all intrusions from any quarters.
To another question about India’s global assassination campaign, including the latest reports which claims that Australian government kicked out Indian spies ‘after being caught trying to steal secrets about sensitive defence projects and airport security, the spokesperson recalled that Pakistan had been saying that India’s network of espionage, subversion and extraterritorial and extrajudicial killings, which has been very active in South Asia over the last several decades, has now expanded to several continents.
She said that this India’s network of espionage is now a matter of concerns for international community. She said that Pakistan has presented concrete evidence of involvement of Indian agents in terror attacks inside Pakistan and extraterritorial and extrajudicial killings of Pakistani nationals on Pakistani territory.
“These acts are illegal and are in violation of international laws, the UN charter, and the basic precepts of justice and due process. Therefore, we urge the global community to hold India to account for its illegal acts and the actions that it is taking in foreign countries in violation of international law,” she added.
When her comments were sought on the crackdown on pro-Palestinian protest in various US universities, she stated that Pakistan does not comment on the domestic affairs of other country and also expect them to also abide by the same principle of non-intervention and desist from comment on Pakistan’s internal affairs.
“The war on Gaza has been going on for eight months and during this period over 34,000 people have been killed, of which two-third are women and children,” she said.
She further stated that the international community has failed to protect the people of Gaza from massacre and bloodshed and people of conscience around the world are concerned about the situation and are making their voices heard. “Pakistan is likewise concerned about the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” she added.
In response to another query about a possible Pakistan-Iran security pact on border management, she said that that Pakistan and Iran have important channels of communication and these are bilateral channels of communication to discuss counterterrorism and security matters.
“These channels of communication have been further strengthened in recent months in order to ensure that the border between Pakistan and Iran is peaceful, free of terror activities, and is a border of peace, prosperity and friendship,” she said.
She added that Pakistan will continue to engage with Iran in further strengthening cooperation in this domain.
She also stated that Pakistan strongly condemns the rising violations of human rights by Israel and the increasing number of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. She added that Pakistan is also deeply concerned about Israeli leaders’ bellicose statements to attack Rafah, adding that any ground assault by Israel on Rafah is unacceptable.
She said that the international community must exert every effort to prevent Israel from committing these egregious crimes in Palestine.