New Delhi, 23 June (H.S.):

India on Tuesday dismissed the recent remarks made by Pakistan's Defence Minister as an attempt to divert attention from the country's domestic problems.

Addressing the weekly media briefing here, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said such statements reflect Pakistan's desperation to conceal its own failures and deflect attention from its human rights violations.

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had recently warned that tensions over water security could lead to a war over the Indus Waters Treaty. India suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam.

Responding to the remarks, Jaiswal said, We categorically and unequivocally reject these fabricated claims.

He added that the protests taking place in Pakistan's illegally and forcibly occupied territories are the direct consequence of Islamabad's decades-old policies of systematic economic exploitation, denial of fundamental rights, and administrative repression.

Jaiswal further said Pakistan has responded to these protests through police brutality, disruption of the supply of essential commodities and medicines, internet shutdowns, and the use of lethal force against unarmed civilians.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar