The Foreign Office on Thursday reaffirmed that Pakistan’s position regarding the recognition of Israel remains “unwavering, very clear and very firm.”
Responding to a question on reports of several Pakistani journalists and influencers traveling to Israel, spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan told a weekly press briefing that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no information of the visit. “Since we do not know their details, we cannot comment on what kind of passports were they carrying or were they dual nationals or not,” he said, stressing Pakistan’s position with regards to Israel or Palestine was very unambiguous.
Responding to another question, the spokesperson maintained that there was no change to the March 31 deadline for Afghan Citizen Card holders and undocumented migrants to leave Pakistan. “Authorities have informed that there is no change in the deadline,” he said, while dismissing concerns raised by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other agencies regarding the mass repatriation plan.
“We are not bound to consult UNHCR. First of all, Pakistan is not a member of the Refugee Convention. So anything we have done for the Afghan refugees was done voluntarily for the past 50 years. So with regards to international obligations, we have fulfilled more than our share, by offering this kind of hospitality to Afghans, and we continue to welcome them. But they should have Pakistani visas on their passport, and then they will be more than welcome,” he added.
To a related question, Khan confirmed that the Afghan charge d’affaires was summoned to the Foreign Office to register an official protest over the use of Afghan soil for terrorist attacks in Pakistan. “Our position on this issue has consistently been conveyed to Afghan authorities through a number of channels. Indeed, terrorist threat against Pakistan from terrorist entities including TTP, BLA and [IS-K] is our foremost concern. We continue to impress upon interim authorities to take visible and verifiable action against them, keeping in view their commitments given to the international community to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and groups from the Afghan soil,” he said.
The spokesperson also welcomed the reopening of the Torkham border crossing after 25 days, saying the current arrangement was achieved through mutual consultations. This arrangement, he said, would remain in place until April 15, adding efforts were underway to achieve a permanent solution.
India Criticism
Referring to a statement by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi earlier this week, the spokesperson said India had “no right” to blame the U.N. Security Council and its members for their resolutions on the Kashmir dispute when it was the one to originally approach the global body about the issue in 1948.
He stressed that the “repetition of baseless claims” by India could not deny the fact that Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognized disputed territory whose final status was to be determined by its people through a U.N.-supervised plebiscite, as stipulated in the relevant UNSC resolutions.