Pakistan Rejects Remarks by Indian External Affairs Minister
Press Release
Pakistan categorically rejects the irresponsible remarks made by the External Affairs Minister of India during different media engagements in Brussels.
The discourse of top diplomats should aim to promote peace and harmony, rather than producing bellicose punchlines. The tone and tenor of a Foreign Minister should be commensurate with his dignified status.
For last several years, India has been engaged in a malicious campaign to mislead the international community through a fictitious narrative of victimhood. However, India's continued anti-Pakistan diatribe cannot hide its sponsorship of terrorism beyond its borders, nor can it cover up the state-sanctioned oppression in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Instead of pointing fingers at others, India should introspect on its own involvement in terrorism, subversion and targeted assassinations.
India must also desist from concocting misleading narratives to justify its recent aggressive actions. Pakistan believes in peaceful coexistence, dialogue and diplomacy. However, it stands resolute in its intent and ability to safeguard its sovereignty against any aggression, as exemplified by its robust response to India's reckless strikes, last month.
The narrative emerging from India betrays sheer frustration, following an unsuccessful military adventure against Pakistan. The Indian leaders would be well-advised to improve the standard of their discourse and discard their obsession with Pakistan.
The history will judge not by who shouted the loudest — but by who acted the wisest.
read more
Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685
NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria
Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO
Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided
News
Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks
News
Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank
News
Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region
News
One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid
News
China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier
Sports
Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer
Lifestyle
Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt
News
Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies
Business
Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War
Arts & Culture
Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies
News
Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks
News
Shell Unveils Cost-Cutting, LNG Growth Plan
Videos & Features
Video: Trending Lifestyle TikToker Valeria Márquez Shot Dead during Live Stream
Technology
50-Year Soviet Spacecraft 'Kosmos 482' Crashes into Indian Ocean
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Egypt Independent
7 minutes ago
- Egypt Independent
Putin says Russia's hypersonic missile has entered service and will be deployed in Belarus
Moscow AP — President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia has started production of its newest hypersonic missiles and reaffirmed its plans to deploy them to ally Belarus later this year. Sitting alongside Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam Island near St. Petersburg, Putin said the military already has selected deployment sites in Belarus for the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile. 'Preparatory work is ongoing, and most likely we will be done with it before the year's end,' Putin said, adding that the first series of Oreshniks and their systems have been produced and entered military service. Russia first used the Oreshnik, which is Russian for 'hazelnut tree,' against Ukraine in November, when it fired the experimental weapon at a factory in Dnipro that built missiles when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. Putin has praised the Oreshnik's capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack. He warned the West that Moscow could use it against Ukraine's NATO allies who allowed Kyiv to use their longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia. Russia's missile forces chief has declared that Oreshnik, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, has a range allowing it to reach all of Europe. Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow abandoned in 2019. Last fall, Putin and Lukashenko signed a treaty giving Moscow's security guarantees to Belarus, including the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons to help repel any aggression. The pact follows the Kremlin's revision of its nuclear doctrine, which for the first time placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella amid tensions with the West over the conflict in Ukraine. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for over 30 years and has relied on Kremlin subsidies and support, allowed Russia to use his country's territory to send troops into Ukraine in 2022 and to host some of its tactical nuclear weapons. Russia hasn't disclosed how many such weapons were deployed, but Lukashenko said in December that his country currently has several dozen. The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which has a 1,084-kilometer (673-mile) border with Ukraine, would allow Russian aircraft and missiles to reach potential targets there more easily and quickly if Moscow decides to use them. It also extends Russia's capability to target several NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe. The revamped nuclear doctrine that Putin signed last fall formally lowered the threshold for Russia's use of its nuclear weapons. The document says Moscow could use nuclear weapons 'in response to the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction' against Russia or its allies, as well as 'in the event of aggression' against Russia and Belarus with conventional weapons that threaten 'their sovereignty and/or territorial integrity.'
Egypt Independent
26 minutes ago
- Egypt Independent
US envoy Witkoff visits Gaza aid distribution site as starvation crisis deepens
Steve Witkoff, the United States' special envoy to the Middle East, on Friday visited a controversial US-backed aid distribution site in Gaza, one of three such locations near which hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach scarce food supplies. Witkoff said he spent five hours in Gaza on Friday to better understand the humanitarian situation in the enclave and to relay it to Donald Trump. The US president said earlier this week that there was 'real starvation' in Gaza, contradicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claims. 'I spoke to Steve Witkoff. He had a great meeting with a lot of people, and the primary meeting was on food,' Trump said early Friday evening. 'And he had, he also had some other conversations that I'll tell you about later, but he had a meeting on getting the people fed, and that's what we want.' Along with US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Witkoff visited an aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – one of only three such operational sites in the blockaded enclave. The GHF was created to sideline the United Nations' role in distributing aid, after Israel complained that UN aid was reaching Hamas. But the new group has been criticized for failing to improve conditions as Gaza's starvation crisis deepens. The UN refused to participate in the new scheme, saying the GHF model violates basic humanitarian principles. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food, hundreds of them near GHF sites, according to the UN. The GHF disputes this. For two months, the scenes at GHF distribution sites have been chaotic, with the Israeli military seen firing towards scores of Palestinians, some of whom have been crushed in the scramble to reach aid. Ambassador Huckabee praised GHF after his Gaza visit, saying Hamas 'hates' the organization because its food reaches Palestinians in Gaza without reaching Hamas. Witkoff said he spent more than five hours in Gaza on Friday to better understand the humanitarian situation. Ambassador Mike Huckabee/X Despite Israel's claims that the UN allowed aid to reach Hamas, an internal US government review found no evidence of widespread theft by Hamas of US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza. Huckabee also praised GHF for distributing more than 100 million meals to Gaza since it was launched in May. But other aid agencies have warned that this is insufficient. If 100 million meals have been distributed to each of Gaza's 2.1 million people, that works out at just over one meal a day for 47 days for every resident. The GHF has been operating for nearly 70 days. A senior Hamas official condemned Witkoff's trip as little more than a photo opportunity. 'Mr. Witkoff, Gaza is not an animal farm that requires a staged personal visit to take some personal photos in front of the death traps overseen by your American companies,' Basem Naim, a former Palestinian health minister in Gaza, said in a statement shared with CNN. 'Random gunfire' Palestinians said that the Israeli military shot at them while they waited to receive food near the same distribution hub visited by Witkoff on Friday. The nearby Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said it had received at least three people who were killed and six who were injured by gunfire near the hub. It said many other injured people were being treated at a Red Cross field hospital. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it fired warning shots to prevent a group of people advancing toward its troops, after calling on the group to distance itself. The IDF said it was not aware of any casualties as the result of its fire but was investigating the incident. A US embassy spokesperson also said it had not received 'reports of clashes or injuries of any kind in the vicinity of the visit.' CNN has asked the GHF for comment. Eyewitnesses told CNN the Israeli military shot at people who had gathered at Al Tina, where residents wait before moving on to the distribution site at al-Shakoush. Abu Armanah is seen at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Friday. Abdallah F.s. Alattar/Anadolu/Getty Images Abu Armanah, who was being treated for a gunshot wound to his abdomen at Nasser hospital, added: 'People are literally battling each other. Witkoff and his visit are nonsense.' 'As soon as Witkoff was in the area, there was random gunfire. The shooting intensified, along with drones and quadcopters in the air, and they started firing at people,' Ahmad Abu Armanah told CNN shortly after the incident. Bodies were 'scattered all over the place,' he said. Mahmoud Awad, another witness, told CNN he was 'shocked' by the violence he saw at the hub. 'Today was madness,' he said. 'As we arrived, young men started getting shot. There was gunfire, and it was direct,' he said. 'We were shocked to hear that the American envoy could come under these conditions.' Later on Friday night, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that Gaza City's Al-Quds Hospital received at least 12 people who were killed and 90 others injured after the 'targeting of crowds of civilians' by Israeli forces as the civilians were waiting for aid trucks in southwestern Gaza City's Nabulsi area. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment. Shifting diplomacy Witkoff's trip to Israel was his second in two weeks. Last week, he abruptly pulled US delegates out of Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar, accusing Hamas of negotiating in bad faith. He said the Trump administration would explore 'alternative options' to bring the hostages home and 'create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.' Hamas reportedly later chose to stop engaging in peace talks. A senior Israeli official said Thursday that Israel and the US are forming a new understanding on Gaza, following Hamas' reported withdrawal from negotiations. 'An understanding is forming between Israel and the United States that, in light of Hamas's refusal, there is a need to shift from a framework focused on the release of some of the hostages to one aimed at the release of all hostages, the disarmament of Hamas, and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,' a senior Israeli official said on Thursday. 'At the same time, Israel and the United States will work to increase humanitarian aid, while continuing military operations in Gaza,' the official added. Meanwhile, in a Thursday statement, Hamas said it is committed to continuing negotiations toward a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, provided the humanitarian crisis in the enclave improves considerably. 'It is essential to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation significantly and to obtain a written response from the enemy regarding our response,' Basem Naim, a senior member of Hamas' political bureau, told CNN. 'This is a condition to go back to negotiations.'
Egypt Independent
an hour ago
- Egypt Independent
Netanyahu postpones decision over military action in Gaza to next week, source says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed making a decision on the actions his country's military will take in Gaza if Hamas does not agree to a ceasefire deal, a source familiar with the matter told CNN on Friday. A decision will no longer come this week, the source said. This comes amid internal disagreements in the Israeli government about its preferred course of action in the enclave. One idea on the table, if the militant group does not agree to a deal, is to encircle Gaza City and other population centers, while another is to 'conquer' the city, the source said. Different ministers are in favor of different plans, the source added. On Thursday, a senior Israeli official said that Israel and the United States are forming a new understanding on Gaza, as Hamas reportedly withdrew from ceasefire and hostage deal negotiations. 'At the same time, Israel and the United States will work to increase humanitarian aid, while continuing military operations in Gaza,' the official added. The shift comes as Hamas has disengaged from ceasefire and hostage negotiations, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Hamas' disengagement follows the US and Israel pulling their delegations from talks in Doha, Qatar, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff at the time accusing Hamas of negotiating in bad faith. Despite that move, a senior Israeli official had told CNN they would be prepared to return to Doha if Hamas changed its position. On Thursday, Hamas said it was committed to continuing negotiations toward a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, but conditions in the enclave would first have to improve 'significantly.' The faltering peace talks come amid a catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, where scores of people are starving to death. All of Gaza's 2.1 million people are now food insecure, without reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious and healthy food, the United Nations said this week. According to the enclave's health ministry, 900,000 children are going hungry, and 70,000 show signs of malnutrition. 'It is essential to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation significantly and to obtain a written response from the enemy regarding our response,' Basem Naim, a senior member of Hamas' political bureau, told CNN. 'This is a condition to go back to negotiations.' In a separate statement, Hamas said it was ready to 'engage immediately in negotiations again upon the arrival of aid to those in need and to end the humanitarian crisis and famine in Gaza.' The statement added that continuing negotiations 'under the conditions of starvation loses its substance and effectiveness.' CNN previously reported that Hamas was considering hardening its position in negotiations. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said Wednesday there was no point in continuing to engage in negotiations as long as Gaza's starvation crisis continues.
