‘Baseless speculations’: DG ISPR on reports of deal with Nawaz Sharif

RAWALPINDI: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar on Wednesday rejected reports of a deal with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and termed these as “baseless speculations".

Addressing a media briefing, the military spokesperson said that such reports are "absolutely baseless speculations".

“Whoever speaks on the matter please ask from where they are getting such reports,” he said, when asked to comment on the matter.

Read more: The ‘deal’ and Nawaz Sharif’s return

“Who is negotiating with Nawaz Sharif? What are the motives behind the deal with Nawaz Sharif? What is the evidence?”

He also dispelled an ongoing perception of a civil-military rift.

“There is no problem in civil-military relations. In the evening talk shows, it is said that the establishment did this and that. Keep establishment out of this.”

‘Talks with Taliban are on hold’

Major General Babar Iftikhar said that the talks with the Pakistani Taliban are on hold and the ceasefire with the militant organisation ended on December 9.

Giving background on the talks, the military spokesperson said that the talks with the TTP were held at the request of the interim Afghan government.

“After the ceasefire, anti-terror operations are continuing with full force.”

“The Taliban government told us that they would bring them [TTP] to the table and make them accept what Pakistan wants. However, there were some demands from our side that were non-negotiable.”

The Taliban government was told to not allow the use of Afghan’s soil against Pakistan, he said, adding that due to internal issues within the group and the aforementioned factors, talks did not pan out.

Arms race in region

Briefing media on issues pertaining to Pakistan's eastern and western borders, and the landmark achievements of Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, Maj Gen Iftikhar said that under the ceasefire agreement reached with India in February last year, the Line of Control (LoC) "remained peaceful throughout the year".

"The biggest dividend is that the people who live in the area, have seen a definite improvement in their daily lives,” he added.

"But alongside this, the false accusations and the propaganda by the Indian leadership that has continued points towards a particular political agenda," the DG ISPR added.

Maj Gen Iftikhar said the fundamental purpose of this is to draw away the attention of the international community from the "systematic demographic changes" India is implementing in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

India has endangered the entire region's security with its "never-ending series of defence procurement", he said, adding that this will not only shift the balance of traditional warfare, but will lead to an arms race in the region.

The DG ISPR noted that India was on a path of religious extremism, which the whole world is aware of now.

Reacting to the false Indian propaganda about infiltration, the military’s spokesperson said that India had made a mockery of itself by the allegations as it raised questions regarding their own security mechanism and the anti-infiltration grid at the LoC.

"Recently, the Indian army staged a fake encounter in Kirin sector which is in front of Neelum Valley, and in the name of countering infiltration, they martyred an innocent Kashmiri, and then blamed Pakistan for it," he said.

Maj Gen Iftikhar said that the photos circulated by Indian media of the alleged terrorist named Shabbir, is not only alive but is present at home in the Azad Kashmir area of Sharda.

In Kashmir, the worst siege in human history has been going on since August 2019, he noted.

But now, voices have begun to reverberate throughout India, occupied Kashmir and the entire world that Indian armed forces are targeting innocent Kashmiris in the name of counter-terrorism and are trying to illegally crush their completely legitimate and indigenous freedom struggle, Maj Gen Iftikhar said.

‘Findings of The Russell Tribunal on Kashmir are eye opening’

Speaking of The Russell Tribunal on Kashmir, which was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina, between December 17-19, 2021, he said that its findings are "eye-opening".

He said that 15 international judges and experts took part in the tribunal, which focused on four areas, namely genocide, decolonisation, secular colonialism and war crimes against Kashmiris.

The DG ISPR went on to say that the participants made special mention of reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which recorded instances of human rights violations by India and how Indian armed forces have been waging a military, political, economic, social, and cultural war against Kashmiris, and how they are violating the Geneva Convention and other international laws.

Maj Gen Iftikhar said today, January 5, marks an important day, as it was on this day in 1949 that the people of Kashmir were promised the right to self-determination by the United Nations.

"That promise remains unfulfilled," he said, adding: "We salute the everlasting struggle, and their unparalleled sacrifices and courage of the Kashmiri people."