ISLAMABAD – Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch Thursday termed the reports of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto’s arrest in New York a “lie”.
She expressed these view while responding to a question during her weekly press briefing. She rejected the news as fake.
The foreign minister is on an official visit to US. The spokesperson said that the primary purpose of FM Bilawal Bhutto’s visit was to attend the Ministerial Conference of the G-77 and China at the UN Headquarters in New York and to hold consultations for the “International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan” to be held next month in Geneva.
The foreign minister chaired the ministerial conference on 15-16 December 2022 which was convened by Pakistan in its capacity as the Chair of the G-77, the largest bloc of developing countries within the UN system.
The conference adopted a concrete outcome document spelling out the group’s strategy to address common challenges in achieving the SDGs in face of present challenges and building resilience to respond to future crises.
Briefing about the FM’s meetings in the US capital, Spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had a “very productive” visit to Washington DC.
She said that the foreign minister had a busy visit schedule which included engagements with the Biden Administration and members of the US Congress, speaking engagements at two prestigious think tanks, interaction with Pakistani-American community leaders and DC-based think-tank community as well as interviews with leading media outlets.
The main purpose of the visit to Washington, she added, was to continue discussions on Pakistan-US cooperation in flood relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts and enlist US support for the climate conference.
About the grave human rights violations committed by the Indian occupation forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, she urged New Delhi to stop massive human rights violations immediately. She said India must be held accountable for these injustices. The only way to lasting peace in South Asia is by granting the people of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
