The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs was told on Thursday that dossiers given to the United States and United Nations Secretary General on India’s alleged involvement in terrorism in Pakistan did not contain ‘material evidence’.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, which met with Senator Nuzhat Sadiq in the chair, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said the dossiers instead contained the “pattern and narrative” of Indian involvement.
“The dossiers have been meticulously prepared, but material evidence cannot be shared for the sake of protecting the sources,” he said, adding that the proofs could have only been provided to others in the narrative shape.
Mr Aziz had first talked about the three dossiers ahead of Pak-India National Security Advisers meeting, which was later cancelled. His statement led to a media hype that the government after decades of complaining about Indian role in terrorism in the country was finally readying to present credible evidence to the world.
Sartaj tells Senate committee dossiers given to US, UN contain ‘pattern and narrative’
Following the cancellation of the bilateral NSA talks, the dossiers were given to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative in the UN, Dr Maleeha Lodhi. The same were also shared by Mr Aziz with US Secretary of State John Kerry during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Washington last month.
The dossiers, according to previous official statements, contained proofs about Indian involvement in Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Karachi
While talking to media after the US visit, Mr Aziz had said that the dossiers would help build a narrative about India’s patronage of subversive activities in Pakistan.
Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry told the committee that the contents of the dossiers could be shared with the members of the panel in an ‘in-camera’ session due to `the sensitivity of the matter’.
CPEC: Mr Chaudhry struggled to explain the omission of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) from the joint statement issued after the meeting of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with President Obama in Washington on Oct 22.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed had pointed out that while the joint statement welcomed regional connectivity projects and named Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement, the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000) electricity corridor, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline project, it curiously remained silent on CPEC.
Mr Chaudhry clarified that it was President Obama, who praised those projects and the same was noted in the joint statement.
He further said that the Pakistani side had briefed the Obama administration about CPEC and apparently they had no objection to it.
BANNED GROUPS: The foreign secretary disclosed that Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), a charity linked to Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), was not among the organisations placed under observation.
FIF as per some of the earlier government statements was under watch.
It was not clear if the foreign secretary’s statement denoted a change in FIF’s status or he simply clarified the misperception that FIF was on the watch list.
UN listed FIF as a terrorist organisation in 2012 under UNSC Resolution 1267 and 1989.
JuD was meanwhile among the organisations whose activities were being supervised, Mr Chaudhry said.
Another related group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, he said, was a banned entity.
PAKISTAN: Three dossiers containing proof of Indian involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan have been handed over to the United Nations, Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told media representatives in New York.
Aziz said that Pakistan's permanent representative to UN, Dr Maliha Lodhi had shared three dossiers containing evidences pertaining to Indian interference in Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Karachi with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Mon in a meeting.
The advisor said India has been violating the ceasefire agreement with Pakistan at the Line of Control (LoC) and that foreign ministers of 15 countries have been apprised of the Indian aggression in Pakistan.
Aziz rejected Indian allegation of supporting terrorists and said Pakistan is engaged in a massive military operation against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
He said Pakistan has suffered the most in the fight against terrorism, and our sacrifices for the sake of global peace have also been acknowledged by the entire world.
Exercising Pakistan's right to reply to the Indian allegations, Counselor Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, Bilal Ahmad in a letter to UN too confirmed the development.
The letter sent to Ban Ki-Moon bring to his notice that India’s attempts to deny illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir deployment of over seven hundred thousand security forces in the region.
"Only an occupier would oppose the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions that promised self-determination to the people of the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir. Over 100,000 Kashmiris have been killed, thousands of women widowed and raped, and children orphaned by this brutal occupation and the most egregious form of state terrorism by India," read the letter.
Bilal Ahmed told the UN Secretary General that Independent human rights organisations have confirmed the existence of over 6,000 unnamed mass graves in India-held Kashmir.
The diplomat maintained that India’s insistence on limiting the talks to a one point agenda proves that it is neither interested nor serious in engaging in a genuine dialogue adding that India has not only stalled the bilateral dialogue but also vitiated the overall atmosphere between the two countries using the 'terrorism bogey'.
The diplomat reminded the UN Secretaty Generals' good office that Pakistan’s commitment, and its role and sacrifice in the fight against terrorism, including the success of our ongoing counter-terrorism operations, have been acknowledged and praised by the entire international community.
Earlier on Thursday Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had told reporters at a press conference at Waldorf Astoria hotel after his UNGA speech that if he had a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi he would have handed the dossier over to him.
He said that Pakistan was keen to have peaceful neighbourly relations but India had not reciprocated with the same sentiments. “It is the time that India should act by coming forward and desist from violating the ceasefire on LoC and Working Boundary,” he said.
Premier Nawaz Sharif had announced on Wednesday his proposal of a four-point agenda at the annual United Nations General Assembly, saying the two nuclear-armed countries should formalise a ceasefire in Kashmir and take steps to demilitarise the divided region.
The proposals were rejected by India which said talks among officials of both countries on terrorism that collapsed in August should be revived.
Tags:
National