News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday said that the new land lease rules introduced in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir allowing non-Kashmiris to acquire agricultural land for commercial and other non-agricultural purposes was another exhibition of India’s colonial-settler mindset.
Talking in her weekly press briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, said that last month, the occupying authorities introduced new land lease rules, depriving the local farmers, hoteliers, and traders of their long-held lands on lease.
Zahra Baloch said the local authorities had also intensified their campaign to seal or grab the properties of activists and resisting leaders.
She further said under the amended Land Revenue Act now non-Kashmiris can purchase agricultural land for commercial and other non-agricultural purposes.
FO on Indian Army
“The Indian Army has been bestowed sweeping powers to have possession of agricultural land and residential areas in any part or area of IIOJK, after declaring them as “strategic”. According to reports more than 430,000 kanals of land are already under illegal possession of the Indian military and paramilitary forces,” she said.
She further said such developments were yet another appearance of India’s colonial-settler mindset and its evil designs to expand control over Kashmiri lands, which was an open violation of international law and the obligations of the occupying power towards occupied lands.
The spokesperson also reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to keeping extending unstinted moral, political and diplomatic assistance to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle for self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
Climate
She further said following the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan, the government will work with an “International Partners Support Group to Pakistan’s Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction” to come up with detailed plans for specific recovery interventions and building Pakistan’s climate resilience and adaptation.
She told media that during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to the UAE, the two sides agreed to deepen mutual investment cooperation, stimulate partnerships and enable investment integration opportunities.
The spokesperson further said on Thursday, a Host Country Agreement (HCA) was inked between Pakistan and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) making the organization able to operate its country office in Pakistan.
FO statement on attack in Kabul
Regarding a terrorist attack in Kabul the other day, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari talked to the Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi via telephone and reaffirmed Pakistan’s complete solidarity with the people of Afghanistan in countering the curse of terrorism.
She said Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar would attend the 53rd Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to be held in Davos, Switzerland from January 16-20 to present Pakistan’s perspective on issues of global economic importance.
Responding a question, regarding Pakistan–India relations and the facilitation by third parties, comprising the United States, she said Pakistan would always appreciate and welcome the international community to play their role in supporting and promoting peace in the area including in facilitating dialogue and resolution of the core dispute between the two sides i.e. the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
The spokesperson appreciated and welcomed the Saudi decision to increase its investments in Pakistan; however, added that all trade and investment-related projects took several months of discussion and painstaking negotiations to give results.
