Islamabad: Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi has firmly rejected assertions made by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar about Pakistan in Luxembourg, calling them irresponsible and misleading.
At his weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, FO Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said India has once again sought to deflect attention from its own deeply troubling record as a neighbour marked by promotion of terrorism and contributions to regional instability. He said India has instigated terrorism in the region and promoted regional instability.
The FO Spokesperson said the Indian External Affairs Minister's statement in Luxembourg also constitute a blatant attempt to divert attention from the recently surfaced documentary evidence indicating that New Delhi sought a third country's intervention to secure a ceasefire with Pakistan during the May conflict. He emphasized that no amount of blustered can obscure India's fabricated narrative surrounding counter terrorism particularly the Pahalgam incident or its reckless misadventure against Pakistan.
The FO Spokesperson said India has carried out extra judicial killings abroad, interfered in the internal political affairs of neighbouring countries, exported terrorism into Pakistan and provided safe havens to wanted criminals. He said India too has been a source of coercion rather than cooperation for the smaller states in the region.
When asked about the demolition of structures near Faiz-e-Elahi mosque in Delhi, Tahir Andrabi expressed grave concerns on the action of Indian government to demolish Waqaf Properties associated with Faiz-e-Elahi mosque.
He said the mosque stands as a very important symbol of Muslim religious, cultural and historical heritage and continues to serve as a central place for worship and community life.
He mentioned that demolition drive is not an isolated incident rather it reflects a very systematic and deliberate campaign by the RSS-BJP nexus to target and erase the Muslim heritage across India.
The FO Spokesperson said that several other historic mosques face similar threats of desecration or demolition. He said Indian Muslims continue to experience grave social, economic and political marginaliztion.
The FO Spokesperson called upon the international community to take serious notice of this rise in Islamophobia in India. He said the UN and other related mechanisms must play a proactive role in safeguarding the religious and cultural rights of Indian minorities.
Tahir Andrabi also urged the Indian government to fulfill its constitutional and international human rights obligations by guaranteeing the safety and security of all religious denominations including Muslims.
When asked about relations with Afghanistan, the FO Spokesperson said Pakistan does not wish to be hostile to Afghanistan. He reiterated demand that Afghan territory not be used to launch terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.
FO Spokesperson said that on 5 January the people of Pakistan joined the people of Jammu and Kashmir in commemorating Right to Self-Determination Day. This date marks the adoption of a United Nations resolution in 1949 that recognized the right of its people to determine their own future through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations. The international law recognizes the right to self-determination as a cornerstone principle enshrined in the UN Charter. The Kashmiri people have been denied this right by India for over seven decades. The illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir by India stands as a stark tragedy of our time. The people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) continue to endure systematic repression, widespread human rights violations and denial of their fundamental rights and dignity.
Tahir Hussain Andrabi said that India has made consistent efforts to silence the genuine leadership of the Kashmiri people and muzzle the media. The number of Kashmiri political prisoners is ever-rising, while sixteen political outfits have been outlawed by occupation authorities. Meanwhile, profiling and harassment of innocent Kashmiris, arbitrary detentions, and the so-called 'cordon and search' operations have become a norm in the occupied territory.
He said that thousands of Kashmiri leaders and members of civil society are imprisoned. Massarat Alam, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Asia Andrabi, Dr. Qasim Faktu, Advocate Abdul Qayyum, Fehmida Soofi and many others have endured decades of incarceration. Muhammad Yasin Malik stands convicted after a sham trial. Khurram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj languish in jail on account of reprisals by Indian occupation authorities.
He said that India's illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 represent a blatant attempt to consolidate the illegal occupation through demographic engineering of IIOJK. These measures are designed to systematically transform the Kashmiri people into a disenfranchised community in their own homeland, in clear violation of international law and the principles of self-determination.
Despite enduring decades of oppression and countless sacrifices in IIOJK, the Kashmiri people have remained resolute in their just struggle to achieve the right.
He said that Pakistan will continue to extend its unwavering moral, political, and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in the just struggle for the right to self determination.
Tahir Hussain Andrabi said that this week, the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar visited China to co-chair the 7th round of the Pakistan-China Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue, held in Beijing on 4 January 2026. The Pakistan-China Joint Communiqu© issued on the occasion is a comprehensive document, summing up the discussions on entire spectrum of Pakistan-China relations in wide-ranging areas, including strategic and political cooperation, as well as cooperation on defense and security, economy, trade, investment, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
International and regional issues of shared interest were also discussed. He said that the two sides reaffirmed their unyielding support for each other on issues concerning their respective core interests. Pakistan reaffirmed its firm commitment to the one-China principle, and reiterated that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. Pakistan firmly supports every effort of China to achieve national reunification and on issues concerning Xinjiang, Xizang, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.
Tahir Hussain Andrabi said that China reiterated its steadfast support for Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. China commended the comprehensive measures taken by Pakistan to combat terrorism and fully recognized the significant contributions and huge sacrifices that Pakistan made in combating terrorism over the years.
The two sides agreed to further align their development plans and priorities, and build an upgraded version 2.0 of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a pioneering project of Belt and Road Initiative. The two sides emphasized the importance of a South Asian regional order underpinned by the U.N. Charter, international law, and the basic norms governing international relations, reiterated opposition to any unilateral actions, and reaffirmed the significance of maintaining peace and stability in South Asia and the necessity of resolving all outstanding disputes through dialogue and consultation.
Tahir Hussain Andrabi said that the Pakistani side briefed the Chinese side on its position on and latest developments of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. China reiterated that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is left over from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved in accordance with the U.N. Charter, relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements.
The two sides expressed readiness to conduct trans-boundary water resources cooperation under the principle of equality and mutual benefit, and emphasized the imperative of fulfilling international legal obligations. The significance of the maintenance of international and regional security and stability was reiterated. The two sides expressed readiness to continue leveraging the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Dialogue and the China-Bangladesh-Pakistan cooperation mechanism to deliver new outcomes.
He said that the two sides agreed to keep in close communication and coordination on the Afghan issue. The two sides called for more visible and verifiable actions to dismantle and eliminate all terrorist organizations based in Afghanistan which continue to pose serious threats to regional and global security, and prevent terrorist organizations from using the Afghan territory for terrorism against any other country and to endanger any other country.