No backchannel diplomacy with India: Official

islamabad — The Foreign Office on Thursday dismissed reports that any backchannel diplomacy was underway between Pakistan and India, saying it was out of question owing to the worsening human rights situation in Indian-administered Kashmir.

“Not at all in the circumstances we are in. Not in the face of the brutality that is happening in Indianadministered Kashmir,” Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said in her last weekly briefing with media.

Farooqui said the situation in Indian-administered Kashmir was deteriorating day by day and Pakistan would not consider any backchannel diplomacy in the current scenario.

The spokesperson said that Pakistan valued its long-standing relations with the Organisation of Islamic

Cooperation (OIC), however, the “people of Pakistan had some expectations from the body over the Jammu and Kashmir dispute”.

Asked about the remarks of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, she said Pakistan “acknowledged and deeply appreciated the OIC’s role in highlighting the issue”.

As regards Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, Farooqui said Pakistan had conveyed to India the August 3 directive of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

She said as per the court order, India had been communicated through diplomatic channels for engaging a lawyer for its serving navy commander. —

Pakistan acknowledges and deeply appreciates the OIC’s role in highlighting the Kashmir dispute Aisha Farooqui Spokesperson