ISLAMABAD-:Pakistan said oTuesday raids on BBC’s offices in India were another manifestation of shrinking space for freedom of media there and are a stain on India’s democratic credentials.
Responding to questions at her weekly news briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the raids were reprisals of BBC’s documentary on Gujrat massacre of 2002 and India’s illegal and unilateral steps in Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019.
She said as human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir continue unabated, Pakistan continued to raise concerns about the situation and called for just and peaceful settlement of the dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions.
The spokesperson said second round of Pakistan-US mid-level Defence Dialogue was underway in Washington to discuss a range of issues including defence and security cooperation in the broader regional and global context.
The Pakistani delegation in the dialogue is led by Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Muhammad Saeed while the US side is led by US Acting Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo Pacific Security Affairs Dr. Ely Ratneu.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch announced that Counselor of the US Department of State Derek Chollet was travelling to Pakistan from today (Thursday) on a three day visit with an interagency delegation.
The visit will focus on bilateral engagement process which has been institutionalized in trade and investment, climate change, clean energy, health, security, education, and other shared priorities.
Long-term cooperation with the United States on flood rehabilitation and recovery will also be discussed.
She also briefed about Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance to earthquake affected areas of Turkiye and Syria and said so far 12 flights, 21 NLC trucks have been dispatched to Türkiye and 2 flights and 12 trucks dispatched to Syria.
