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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&rsquo;s Foreign Office on Thursday strongly rejected statements by Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, calling them &ldquo;irresponsible and misleading&rdquo; and slamming India for attempting to divert attention from its own regional actions.&nbsp;Speaking at a media briefing in Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said India&rsquo;s recent claims about Pakistan&rsquo;s &ldquo;role in terrorism&rdquo; were part of a &ldquo;blatant attempt to deflect attention from its own deeply troubling record as a neighbour, marked by the promotion of terrorism and contributions to regional instability.&rdquo;&nbsp;Earlier this week in Luxembourg, Jaishankar described Pakistan as a state that has &ldquo;openly supported terrorism for decades&rdquo; and accused it of operating &ldquo;training camps in big cities&hellip;where the state and the military support terrorism.&rdquo;&nbsp;Responding to these assertions, Andrabi highlighted recently surfaced documentary evidence indicating that &ldquo;New Delhi sought a third country&rsquo;s intervention&rdquo; to secure a ceasefire with Pakistan following the May 2025 Pahalgam incident.&nbsp;&ldquo;No amount of bluster can obscure India&rsquo;s fabricated narrative surrounding counterterrorism, particularly regarding the Pahalgam incident, or its reckless misadventure against Pakistan in the aftermath,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;The spokesperson said India has consistently engaged in disruptive actions in the region, including extrajudicial killings abroad, interference in neighboring countries&rsquo; internal affairs, the export of terrorism into Pakistan, including through operatives such as Kulbhushan Jadhav, and providing safe havens to wanted criminals.&nbsp;He further criticized India&rsquo;s domestic record, saying minorities face escalating intimidation and repression, adding: &ldquo;Before presuming to lecture others, India would do well to confront its own conduct and the growing gap between its rhetoric and reality.&rdquo;&nbsp;Andrabi concluded that India&rsquo;s &ldquo;fixation on Pakistan&rdquo; cannot conceal its own role as a &ldquo;serial disrupter of peace&rdquo; in South Asia.

Foreign Affairs

Pakistan rejected Indian FM Jaishankar’s remarks as irresponsible and misleading, accusing New Delhi of deflecting blame, promoting instability, seeking third-party mediation after Pahalgam, and acting as a disrupter of peace

Pakistan rejects Indian foreign minister’s remarks as ‘irresponsible and misleading’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday welcomed but openly questioned the enforceability of a new religious decree issued by Afghanistan&rsquo;s Taliban authorities prohibiting Afghans from engaging in conflict beyond their borders, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said at a weekly press briefing.&nbsp;&ldquo;We will wait, see, and evaluate this document,&rdquo; Andrabi told reporters, noting that he had not yet reviewed the draft.&nbsp;&ldquo;But certainly, we would require written assurances from the leadership of the Afghan Taliban regime on this issue.&rdquo;&nbsp;At least 1,000 Afghan religious scholars reportedly endorsed earlier this week the two-page decree, which calls on the Islamic Emirate not to permit anyone to leave Afghanistan for military activities. Andrabi said Pakistan&rsquo;s skepticism is rooted in past commitments by the Taliban that &ldquo;had not been fulfilled.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;This is exactly why, during the talks held with the mediation efforts of our brotherly countries, Pakistan insisted on written assurances from the Afghan side,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Response to IndiaTurning to recent comments by Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar against Pakistan Army, Andrabi dismissed the remarks as &ldquo;baseless and irresponsible,&rdquo; stressing that Pakistan&rsquo;s institutions operate responsibly and in line with national security priorities. &ldquo;Pakistan is a responsible state and all its institutions, including the armed forces, are pillars of national security, dedicated to safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country,&rdquo; Andrabi said.&nbsp;He referenced the May 2025 Pakistan-India clashes as evidence of what he called the &ldquo;professionalism and resolve&rdquo; of Pakistan&rsquo;s military. &ldquo;No amount of propaganda can belie this truth,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;The spokesperson slammed Indian leaders for attempting to &ldquo;defame Pakistan&rdquo; as part of a campaign designed to divert attention from India&rsquo;s own &ldquo;destabilizing actions in the region.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;This rhetoric exemplifies the extent of India&rsquo;s disregard for amity, peace, and stability in the region,&rdquo; he said, reiterating Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to &ldquo;co-existence, dialogue, and diplomacy.&rdquo;&nbsp;On Israel and GazaAddressing developments in the Middle East, Andrabi noted concerns raised by Islamic countries, including Pakistan, over Israel&rsquo;s statement on opening the Rafah Crossing in one direction to facilitate the movement of Gaza residents into Egypt. He reaffirmed Pakistan&rsquo;s firm opposition to &ldquo;any attempt to expel Palestinians from their land,&rdquo; and underscored the need to uphold previous international commitments related to Gaza. Recalling the foreign minister&rsquo;s earlier remarks, he called for sustaining the ceasefire, reducing civilian suffering, and enabling unrestricted humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip. &ldquo;The ministers affirm readiness to continue working and coordinating with the United States and all concerned regional and international parties to ensure the full implementation of UNSCR 2803 and all relevant UNSC resolutions,&rdquo; Andrabi said.

Security

During a weekly press briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi says Pakistan doubts a new Taliban decree, rejects India’s allegations, and condemns Israel’s Gaza-related plans while urging regional stability

Pakistan seeks assurances on Taliban decree, rejects India claims, condemns Israeli action

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&#39;s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that the United Nations&#39; request to allow humanitarian aid to Afghanistan would be considered, and the process would likely begin on Sunday. He was speaking to the media at the Foreign Office on Saturday. The foreign minister highlighted key official tours and developments that occurred during his recent overseas visits. Speaking on Afghanistan, Dar said that, following a UN request, Pakistan would resume humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. &ldquo;I received a request from the UN via the Foreign Office yesterday to reconsider the suspension of humanitarian aid [food, etc.] for Afghanistan,&rdquo; Dar added. &ldquo;I believe we should take positive action for the common Afghan people,&rdquo; he said. The foreign minister said that he had consulted Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and would soon consult the prime minister. He said that he was hopeful that permission for humanitarian relief would be granted by tomorrow. &ldquo;We will hopefully grant permission for essential food relief on humanitarian grounds by tomorrow,&rdquo; Dar stated. &#39;Dialogue, diplomacy&#39; preferredDiscussing terrorism-related activities across the country, the foreign minister said that since the Afghan interim regime came into power in 2021, 2,000 people had been martyred while another 20,000 had been injured, stressing that the &ldquo;situation is not sustainable.&rdquo; &ldquo;I stressed that Pakistan has the power to take kinetic action, but that it is undesirable against a brother nation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If they don&#39;t resolve the TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan] issue, we have other options. Dialogue and diplomacy are the answers, but they must look inward and address their weaknesses,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It takes two to tango,&rdquo; he remarked. Qatar, T&uuml;rkiye as mediatorsDar recalled that Qatar and T&uuml;rkiye hosted mediation between Pakistan and Afghanistan; however, power centers in Afghanistan prevented a unanimous decision. &ldquo;Qatar and T&uuml;rkiye attempted mediation, but two power centers in Afghanistan prevented decisions from taking effect,&rdquo; he added. Dar stated that Pakistan was prepared to launch a cleanup operation in Afghanistan when Qatar, alongside T&uuml;rkiye, offered to mediate between the two countries.&nbsp; &ldquo;They were likely aware of our planned kinetic operation, and their government was in contact with me on an hourly basis to facilitate mediation,&rdquo; he said. &nbsp;He added that the mediators had to withdraw in embarrassment after the Taliban refused to soften their position. Border issues with AfghanistanRegarding border issues, the foreign minister said that Pakistan had hosted over &ldquo;4 million Afghan brothers for decades.&rdquo; Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that during his visit to Kabul, the Afghan interim foreign minister informed him that the Taliban had detained around a hundred TTP terrorists along with several of their facilitators. Dar acknowledged the arrests but stressed that &ldquo;this is not enough.&rdquo;&nbsp; He said Kabul had invited Pakistan to send a delegation to verify the detentions, yet Islamabad maintains that far more decisive and sustained action is needed against TTP elements operating from Afghan soil. Recalling the Economic Cooperation Council&#39;s virtual meeting, Dar said that Afghanistan&rsquo;s interim foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, &ldquo;provoked me&rdquo; by accusing Pakistan. The foreign minister reiterated that stability in Afghanistan was imperative for peace and stability in the entire region. Pakistan to &lsquo;positively consider&#39; contributing forces as Gaza peacekeepersResponding to a question on the International Stabilization Force (ISF), Dar said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had given an &ldquo;in principle indication&rdquo; that Pakistan would also positively consider sending its forces. &ldquo;My counterproposal was that if it is not a UN Peacekeeping Force, it must be sanctioned by the UN Security Council. The subsequent US resolution&rsquo;s wording was unacceptable to us.&rdquo; He added that there was &ldquo;a thought&rdquo; that the ISF might be mandated to disarm and de-weaponize Hamas. To this, he stated: &ldquo;We are not ready for that. Our job is peacekeeping, not peace enforcement; that is the role of Palestinian law enforcement agencies.&rdquo;

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar says Pakistan is considering resuming humanitarian aid to Afghanistan following a UN request, stressing regional stability, dialogue over force, and conditional support for international stabilization efforts in Gaza.

Articles tagged with "Foreign Office"

Pakistan rejects Indian foreign minister’s remarks as ‘irresponsible and misleading’

Pakistan seeks assurances on Taliban decree, rejects India claims, condemns Israeli action

Pakistan weighing resumption of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan: FM Dar