Tag: BilateralRelations

Conveyed our concerns, says India on US envoy’s PoK visit; counters Garcetti too

Arindam Bagchi responded to US envoy Eric Garcetti citing the Kashmir visit of US diplomats from Delhi for G-20 meetings, saying the two situations are not equivalent

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi (ANI)

India said on Thursday it has conveyed to the US its concerns over a recent visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) by the US ambassador to Islamabad and urged the world community to respect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Donald Blome, the US ambassador to Pakistan, made a multi-day visit to Gilgit-Baltistan last month. He toured different parts of the strategic region that India says is part of undivided Jammu and Kashmir, and met several officials, including a minister and the deputy speaker of the local assembly.

Asked about Blome’s visit to Gilgit-Baltistan at a regular media briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “We have raised our concerns about that visit by the US ambassador to Pakistan with the US side.”

He added, “Our position on the status of the entire union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, that being an integral part of India, is well known. We would urge the international community to respect our sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

When Eric Garcetti, the US envoy to India, was asked by Indian reporters to comment on Blome’s visit, he had said that the Kashmir issue can only be resolved by New Delhi and Islamabad. However, Garcetti had also pointed out that Blome had visited PoK in the past and that a US delegation had travelled to Jammu and Kashmir for G20-related meetings.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/conveyed-our-concerns-says-india-on-us-envoy-s-pok-visit-counters-garcetti-too-101696518565065.html

Pakistan evictions of Afghan migrants ‘unacceptable’, says Kabul

Legions of Afghans have migrated to neighbouring Pakistan over decades of conflict during the Soviet invasion, the following civil war and the U.S.-led occupation

And 600,000 have arrived since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021 and imposed their austere version of Islamic law. Image for representation purpose only. File | Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan’s plan to evict hundreds of thousands of Afghan migrants is “unacceptable”, Taliban authorities said Wednesday, denying allegations by Islamabad its citizens were responsible for a string of suicide attacks there.

Around 1.3 million Afghans are registered refugees in Pakistan and 880,000 more have legal status to remain, according to the latest United Nations figures.

But caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said Tuesday a further 1.7 million Afghans were in Pakistan illegally, giving a November 1 deadline to return home or face deportation.

The order comes as Pakistan grapples with a rise in attacks the government blames on militants operating from Afghanistan, a charge Kabul routinely denies.

“The behaviour of Pakistan against Afghan refugees is unacceptable,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on social media site X.

“Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan’s security problems. As long as they leave Pakistan voluntarily, that country should tolerate them.”

Bugti claimed Afghan nationals were responsible for 14 of 24 suicide attacks in Pakistan since January.

“We deny all these claims because Afghans have migrated to other countries for their safety, their security,” said Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, spokesman for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.

“It’s natural when someone migrates to another country for his safety, he would never want insecurity there,” he told AFP.

Legions of Afghans have migrated to neighbouring Pakistan over decades of conflict during the Soviet invasion, the following civil war and the U.S.-led occupation.

And 600,000 have arrived since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021 and imposed their austere version of Islamic law.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/pakistan-evictions-of-afghan-migrants-unacceptable-says-kabul/article67380504.ece

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