Pakistan concerned about security threat emanating from Afghanistan: FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch

ISLAMABAD, Sep 14 (SABAH): Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar will address the annual United Nations General Assembly session on the 22nd of this month. The spokesperson said that Pakistan is concerned about security threat emanating from Afghanistan. She said it is important for the interim Afghan government to ensure that their territory is not used to threaten Pakistan.

At this weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the Prime Minister will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani during the visit to New York.

The FO spokesperson said the Prime Minister in his address to the UNGA will outline Pakistan’s perspective on a range of regional and global issues of concern including Jammu and Kashmir dispute which is amongst the longstanding unresolved items on the UN Agenda. The Prime Minister will elaborate on the significant measures being taken by the caretaker government to consolidate Pakistan’s economic recovery and efforts to mobilize domestic and external investments.

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the Prime Minister will also participate in a summit on the sustainable development goals and other high level meetings to be organized under the auspices of UNGA. She said these will afford valuable platforms to deliberate on effective measures required at the global level to addressing the most pressing economic and development challenges confronting the global South in the wake of Covid-19, geo political contestations and climate change.

The spokesperson said that on the sidelines of the UNGA, the Prime Minister will also hold bilateral meetings with counterparts from various countries as well as heads of international organizations, philanthropic organizations and corporate leaders. He will also available of the opportunity to engage with other heads of state and government attending the UNGA. The Prime Minister will also interact with the international media.

Responding to a question, the spokesperson said Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory whose final disposition is to be made in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions and aspirations of Kashmiri people. She said it is also an established fact that Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan shown in an Indian map are under Pakistan’s control and part of its official political map, pending the final disposition of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. In that backdrop, she said that any map showing the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir as part of India is legally untenable and factually incorrect. She hoped that our international partners will pay due attention to these facts.

When asked about Pakistan-Afghanistan transit trade agreement, the spokesperson said that Pakistan has been implementing it in good faith. We have facilitated our landlocked neighbor in its access to the world in terms of trade and we will continue to do so. She however said that there have been some concerns of Pakistan regarding misuse of the transit trade agreement on which we will engage with the Afghan authorities so that these practices do not continue.