ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has that the debate on Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) earlier in the week in the British parliament had made it clear that “Kashmir is not India’s internal issue.”
The foreign minister termed the development in the UK as “the success of Pakistan’s diplomatic approach” and a “source of encouragement for Kashmiris”, expressing confidence that such voices would further expose the “real face of India”.
Earlier, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (UK) held a debate on the “critical situation” in Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir (IIOK), rejecting the argument that Kashmir is an internal matter of New Delhi.
In this regard, FM Qureshi said that India was propagating that IIOJK was their internal issue but the British parliamentarians made it clear that it was a global one on which there are many Security Council resolutions.
“India was giving the impression to the world that the situation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir has returned to normalcy but the British parliamentarians opened the floodgates of India’s false claims,” he added.
“Pakistan has been exposing the ongoing Indian atrocities in IoK for a long time and now the same echo is being heard in the British parliament, endorsing Pakistan’s stance against India.”
Qureshi stressed the need for delegations from the US Congress, the British parliament and the European parliament to visit IoK in order to get first-hand information about the serious human rights violations and the law and order situation there.
The situation in occupied Kashmir was “extremely worrying” as millions of Indian troops continued persecution of Kashmiris, he said. The foreign minister said life there was marked with extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests of Kashmiri youth, abuses of women, communication blockades and denial of access to independent observers.
He reiterated that thousands of Kashmiris were bound and no hearing was being held whereas independent observers were not being given access to the occupied territories and international media representatives were also not being allowed to visit IIOJK.
Regarding Afghanistan, the foreign minister said that Pakistan had been constantly striving for lasting peace in Afghanistan and would continue to play a conciliatory role in this whole process.
On Friday (today), Qureshi asserted that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was bound to fail as the opposition’s 11-party ‘unnatural’ alliance had a difference of opinion on the matters pertaining to long marches and mass resignations from the Parliament.
“Disappointment had spread within the opposition alliance. They are only holding rallies to reassure their workers so that the frustration doesn’t spread among them,” the foreign minister said.
He further said, “We are aware of PDM’s internal turmoil and differences among them on the issue of submitting resignations,” adding that difference within Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam- Fazal (JUI-F)’s leadership were also visible to everyone.
He added that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had taken a clear stand on the sit-ins whereas the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had also given its opinion on the inconvenience caused to the people due to sit-ins.
