Pak refutes arms
sale to Ukraine
Pakistan says TTP in contact with “illegal residents”
Khayam Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Thursday once again asserted it has not sold arms to Ukraine or Russia, refuting claims made by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in its recently published investigation. Addressing the Foreign Office’s weekly media briefing today, spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, said: “We are not even in a position to tell which side is using which weapon in this conflict.” She added that the arms sold by Pakistan to anyone have an end-user certificate. Earlier this week, BBC Urdu claimed to be in possession of documents that purportedly show Pakistan’s arms sale to Ukraine, an allegation that the Pakistani government has been consistently rejecting. In its report, BBC Urdu stated that the former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa addressed the passing-out parade of the British Royal Military Academy on August 12, 2022. As he saw the Pak-UK relations touching “historic heights”, a British military cargo plane landed at PAF Base Nur Khan in Rawalpindi. In future, the plane would land at the same base for five times.
The report says that each time, the plane flew from Nur Khan Airbase to the British military base in Cyprus, Akrotiri, and then to Romania, at a time when Russia was waging war in Romania’s neighbouring country, Ukraine. Meanwhile, during the presser, the spokesperson informed about a meeting being currently held between Pakistan and Russia to prevent counter-terrorism. “Additional Secretary Haider Shah is leading the delegation from Pakistan.” Based on intelligence pertaining to the matter, FO said that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is in contact with illegal residents in Pakistan. The spokesperson also spoke about Pakistan repeatedly asking the Afghan interim set-up to take action against TTP hideouts in their territory, which it said are used for attacks on Pakistan.
“We have asked Afghanistan to take action against these bases,” Baloch said. Last week on November 8, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar asked the Afghan government to take action against TTP hideouts and training centres in Afghanistan, urging it to ensure that “they must not be used against Pakistan”. When asked if Pakistan itself would take action against these hideouts in Afghanistan, Kakar said: “We are hopeful that they [Afghan government] will take an action themselves, which is in their own interest and also in our interest.”
Baloch gave a round-up of Pakistan’s presence at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) joint Extraordinary Session in Riyadh on November 11, during which PM Kakar condemned the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza. “The caretaker prime minister demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people,” she said. The spokesperson added that the premier stressed the resolution of the Palestine issue according to the UN resolutions in the meeting with OIC members. Baloch said Pakistan welcomed the OIC-Arab League Joint Summit declaration. “We call on the international community to stop Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza.” Baloch also revealed that Pakistan has been elected to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s Executive Board for the year 2027 and aims to establish connectivity in all regions.
