——- PM orders raising issue of alleged sexual assault on Dr Aafia Siddiqui before US
——- World recognizes measures taken by Pakistan against terrorism and terror financing, says FO
By Ali Asghar Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: Interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Thursday ordered to raise the matter of the alleged sexual assault on Dr Aafiia Siddiqui before the US State Department, said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).
During the weekly briefing, Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the information regarding the incarcerated Pakistani citizen is of a very ‘serious nature’ and assured the journalists present that Aafia’s and “the welfare of all Pakistanis is our top priority”. Yesterday, Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith disclosed on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that she has been subjected to sexual assault on two occasions during her incarceration in the US prison.
Referring to Pakistan’s war on terror, Mumtaz said that the world has recognised measures taken by Pakistan against terrorism and terror financing. She added that Afghanistan was not the only point of agenda in focus during the ongoing meetings with American delegations this week.
On the issue of Afghanistan’s interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani allegedly holding a valid Pakistani passport, the spokesperson said she has just seen the report and would give answers “after the facts are revealed”.
Referring to the alleged acid attack on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahzad Akbar in London, she said he has not sought help from the local high commission in the UK.
Akbar claimed on November 26 that he was targeted with an “acidic liquid” at his residence in Hertfordshire, where he currently resides in exile with his family. Mumtaz, during her press conference, also firmly condemned India’s leadership and Home Minister Amit Shah’s ‘irresponsible’ statements regarding Kashmir.
Shah had said in India’s parliament that Pakistan’s Azad Kashmir “is an integral part of India”. The FO maintained that the Kashmir issue is still on the agenda at the United Nations (UN) as an unresolved matter.
Referring to the brutal Israeli assault on Gaza, Baloch strongly condemned the use of force by Israel against civilians and said Islamabad will “continue to Israel’s use of force in Gaza”.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring to the attention of the Security Council the deteriorating conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza. In Article 99, the charter states, “the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.
Now Guterres will have the right to speak at the Security Council, without having to be invited to speak by a member state, as is usually the case.
In a letter to the Security Council released a day earlier, Guterres said the UNSC’s continued lack of action and the sharp deterioration of the situation in Gaza had compelled him to invoke Article 99 for the first time since he took on the top job at the UN in 2017.
Guterres warned that public order in Gaza could soon break down amid the complete collapse of the humanitarian system and with no effective protection for civilians, “nowhere was safe in Gaza”.
“The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region,” the letter stated.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen lashed out against Guterres, saying his tenure was “a danger to world peace” after he invoked a rare UN procedure over the Gaza war.
“His request to activate Article 99 and the call for a ceasefire in Gaza constitutes support of the Hamas terrorist organization,” Cohen wrote on X.
“We, too, want this war to end,” Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy told reporters, “But it can only end in a way that ensures that Hamas can never attack our people again.”
