FO flays UK’s Home Secy exnophobic remarks

Muhammad Asad
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Office strongly condemned the highly discriminatory and xenophobic remarks of British Home Secretary, Suella Braverman against British Pakistanis.
During her weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Wednesday, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch termed Suella’s remarks as xenophobic and discriminatory and warned of serious repercussions for such inappropriate comments.
According to Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Suella’s discriminatory remarks against Pakistani men paints a highly misleading picture signaling the intent to target and treat British Pakistanis differently. She categorically mentioned that the comments are regrettable and at odds with British culture and values and would lead to dangerous trends in the future.
While commenting on the rising tide of anti-Muslim incidents in India, the Spokesperson expressed deep concerns and urged New Delhi to curb the rising trend of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim violence in its country. According to the spokesperson, anti-Muslim violence has been reported in at least 8 states of India as banned Hindu extremist groups organized rallies to celebrate the Ram Navami festival, while criminal gangs blatantly attack innocent Muslims, their properties, and mosques, while a seminary and over 45,000 books including holy Quran had been burnt in Nalanda district of Bihar.
Ms. Baloch termed it the consequences of a majoritarian Hindutva agenda, anti-Muslim and anti-Islam rife in Indian politics. The Spokesperson called on India, to take demonstrable steps to curb the rising tide of Islamophobia, protect Muslims for practicing their faith, and to account for those responsible for such heinous acts.
Another question regarding human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Ms. Baloch reiterated Pakistan’s concerns about the safety and well-being of Kashmiri leaders under incarceration in prison across India including IIOJK.
While responding to another question regarding the latest attacks of Israeli security forces against innocent Palestinians offering prayer in Al-Aqsa mosque, the Spokesperson said Pakistan condemns the attack in the strongest terms and urges the international community to take immediate action to stop inhumane atrocities of Israeli forces against unarmed Palestinians. According to her, the continuous patron of Israeli oppression not only violates international law and the religious freedom of Palestinians but also hurt the religious sentiments of millions of Muslims across the globe.
To another question regarding rising incidents of terrorism inside the country and the visit of a Pakistani delegation to Kabul, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told the journalists that Pakistan has a channel of communication with Afghan interim authorities regarding border coordination and other related security matters, while the consultation process regarding terrorism-related issues is in progress.
While responding to a media query regarding the media reports about the alleged sale of Pakistani weapons to Ukraine, the Spokesperson termed it baseless media speculations and noted that Pakistan maintains a policy of noninvolvement in foreign conflicts and the same is in the case of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.