ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday said that the Indian government was “losing the battle of hearts and minds” in Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference alongside Special Envoy of the Organisation of Islamic Council (OIC) Yousef Aldobeay, FM Qureshi said, “You have witnessed in the neighbouring country to the west what happens when one loses the battle of hearts and minds.”
In response to a question, the foreign minister said he was a seeing a change in the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir. “The Indian government had created an impression that the situation was normal again in the valley,” he added.
However, he said, the way Indian authorities snatched late Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s body dispelled that impression. “Had the Indian authorities not imposed restrictions, “a sea of people” would have been witnessed at Gilani’s funeral,” he said, adding that the Indian government lacked the courage to let it happen.
Qureshi also announced that Pakistan would be hosting the upcoming session of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) summit in March 2022, where the Kashmir issue would come under discussion in light of a report prepared by the OIC delegation.
The foreign minister said the CFM would draw conclusions on the matter in light of the report. The conclusions, he said, would include recommendations, on the basis of which the Kashmir issue would be highlighted at multiple forums, including the UN.
Qureshi said he also told Aldobeay that apart from a humanitarian crisis, the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir also suffered huge financial losses. “Tourism in the valley has been destroyed and means of earning have been paralysed,” he lamented.
He added that he wished that Aldobeay would be able to visit Srinagar in Indian-occupied Kashmir and interact freely with the media there, the way he was able to do it in Azad Kashmir.
When it was his turn to speak, Aldobeay referred to an OIC Contact Group meeting held in New York earlier this year, where the need for the visit of an OIC delegation to Kashmir was stressed so as to develop a comprehensive understanding of the on-ground situation.
“As the foreign minister said, we will now be presenting our report to the CFM,” he said, speaking through a translator. The envoy termed the OIC delegation’s visit to Pakistan and Azad Kashmir “very fruitful”.
