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ISLAMABAD, (MANEND NEWS): Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah
Mahmood Qureshi has said Pakistan desires peace with India but not
at the expense of Kashmiris.
Addressing a seminar in Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) on
Wednesday, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the world community must
exhort India to treat Kashmiris like human beings. He said India
should rescind its unilateral steps and all related instruments of
oppression and state terrorism in the illegally occupied Jammu and
Kashmir.
The Foreign Minister urged India to respect the United Nations Security
Council resolutions and let the Kashmiri people exercise their right to
self-determination. This, he said, will unlock the potential of South
Asia.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan will continue to lend moral,
political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri people.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on 5th August 2019, India in a state of
power drunkenness embarked upon a Hitlerian final solution for the
Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. “Thus began
intensification of the slow moving tsunami of Indian state terrorism”
he said.
He said that the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council at
which India covets a permanent seat, were cast aside and no tool of
cruelty was deemed excessive by the world’s “largest democracy”!
“Two years on, the Kashmiris continue to languish in the largest
concentration camp on the planet” he said.
He said that on top of that, they are being held incommunicado. They
do not have access to regular or even emergency medical facilities – a
plight not shared even by the worst criminals.
“Even COVID-19, which has generated unprecedented empathy in the
human race has done nothing to bring even an iota of relief to the
Kashmiris” Shah Mahmood Qureshi said. “But it gets worst: India is
trying to eliminate Kashmiris altogether” he said. He said that the
young men disappearing without a trace.
He said that the new domicile rules and land laws have been thrust
upon the Kashmiris to reengineer IIOJK’s demography. In its delusion
of grandeur, India expected the world and more pertinently Pakistan,
to acquiesce, he said.
He said that Pakistan, guided by the clarity of Prime Minister Imran
Khan’s vision, stood its ground. He said that under the Prime Minister’s
directions, I have had the honour to focus the Foreign Ministry’s efforts
on rousing the international community. “I am happy to note that our
efforts have not been in vain” he said.
“The Security Council has discussed the Jammu & Kashmir dispute
thrice since August 2019” he said.
He said that world leaders, Parliamentarians, media, humanists and
civil society at large have understood that beyond the smokescreen of
Indian sophistry, lies Kashmiris’ perpetual nightmare. So, ladies and
gentlemen, the question is: What do we do?
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the Government of Pakistan is absolutely
clear that we will continue to lend moral, political and diplomatic
support to Kashmiris. Accordingly, insinuations or allegations
questioning our sincerity are simply malicious, he said.
“As for the international community, it must continue to exhort India
to treat Kashmiris like human beings. India should rescind its
unilateral actions and all related instruments of oppressions and state
terrorism” he said.
He said that it must respect UNSC’s resolutions and let the Kashmiris
exercise their right to self-determination. “This, ladies and gentlemen,
will pull out the dagger which rankles in the heart of bilateral and
regional peace and bodes ill for international peace and security. It will
unlock the potential of South Asia” he siad.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan wants to shift focus from
geo-politics to geo-economics. We want peace with India but not at
the expense of the Kashmiris. “We hope Indian leadership will prefer
statesmanship over populism. We hope we can, together, weaken the
extremist narrative through a genuine pacific settlement of a festering
dispute” he said. “Rest assured, the Imran Khan Government will not
be found wanting” Shah Mahmood Qureshi concluded.