Associating FM’s remarks with violence highly irresponsible: FO

Islamabad: The Foreign Office Spokesperson on Sunday said that any insinuation, associating Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s remarks over G-20 meeting in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) with a threat of violence, was not only mischievous but also highly irresponsible.

“It is an attempt to shift focus from the Foreign Minister’s key message of conflict resolution through dialogue and in accordance with international law and UN security council resolutions,” the spokesperson said in a press statement in response to media queries regarding a video clip insinuating that Foreign Minister of Pakistan threatened India over conduct of a G-20 meeting In IIOJK.

“In a number of public pronouncements during his recent visit to India, the foreign minister emphasized the critical importance of relevant UN Security Council resolutions for a peaceful settlement of Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Clearly, he based his case on international law,” it was reiterated.

The spokesperson further stressed that the journalistic norms must be respected while reporting on sensitive inter-state matters. A number of Indian media outlets had distorted the statement of the foreign minister during his recent visit to India to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organization-Council of Foreign Ministers (SCO-CFM).

The ministry of foreign affairs, the spokesperson further said, had already articulated Pakistan’s position on the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in IIOJK in its press release on April 11.

Pakistan had already expressed its strong indignation over India’s decision to hold the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar on 22-24 May.

Scheduling of two other meetings of a consultative forum on youth affairs (Y-20) in Leh and Srinagar in IIOJK was also termed as ‘equally disconcerting’.

“India’s irresponsible move is the latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in sheer disregard of the UN Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law. Pakistan vehemently condemns these moves,” the earlier press release on April 11 maintained.

Such events could not hide the reality of Jammu and Kashmir being an internationally recognized dispute that had remained on the agenda of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for over seven decades.

“Nor could such activities divert international community’s attention from India’s brutal suppression of the people of IIOJK including illegal attempts to change the demographic composition of the occupied territory,” it was added.