No truth to reports of abandonment of Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project: FO

• FO rebuts reports about work on Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project coming to halt.
• Says reports are aimed at creating malicious propaganda to hurt Pakistan-China relations.
• Says India churning out false and baseless reports regarding hydropower project.

The Foreign Office has dismissed reports about the abandonment of the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project or the work on it coming to a halt.

The rebuttal came in response to a question about the progress on the project during a weekly news briefing. FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said that the reports are aimed at misleading the public and creating malicious propaganda to hurt Pakistan-China relations.

"There is no truth in any report of work stoppage or so-called abandonment. India is once again churning out false and baseless reports regarding the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project," Iftikhar said.

He said that the authorities detected a fault in the project and started working to fix the fault in coordination with the concerned entity, Gezhouba Group of China.

As per the FO spokesperson, the Chinese development group has already attained full mobilisation at the site and work is being carried out smoothly on the project, with its completion projected in 2023.

Iftikhar said that the FO will not tolerate any efforts to destabilise Pakistan.

"Such efforts will not succeed as all-weather strategic cooperative partners are fully committed to strengthening bilateral cooperation for the benefit of both countries and people," the state broadcaster quoted him as saying.