Modi meeting Kashmiri leaders is “drama that produced nothing”, Shah Mahmood Qureshi

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Shah Mahmood said as Kashmiris wanted a full-fledged restoration of the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir, the claim of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to fulfil such demand “at some opportune time” was entirely “vague and against the interest of Kashmiris”.

“This was a failed attempt on part of the Indian prime minister to mend the tarnished image of his government following the illegal acts of revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir,” the foreign minister said here at a press conference.

The Minister said the Hurriyat leadership has been demanding resolution of the Kashmir dispute as per the UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of Kashmiris and they reiterated their stance in the meeting.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the Kashmiri leaders unanimously demanded the reversal of India's illegal acts of August 5, 2019, and full-fledged restoration of statehood.

He said Modi's illegal acts about Kashmir two years ago badly damaged his image within the country as well as at the international level and he wanted to repair the damage through this meeting.

To a question on India bringing demographic change in J&K, he said since the step would have far-reaching implications, Pakistan had highlighted the matter at the highest fora including the United Nations General Assembly, UN Security Council, during bilateral interactions at the levels of the prime minister and foreign minister, through parliamentary engagement and Geneva Council of Human Rights.

Asked if Pakistan and India were holding a backdoor channel of communication, he categorically dismissed the notion, however, said there existed a “time to time interaction at intelligence level in the area of regional security”.

The Foreign Minister said Kashmiris were not given any solid reply to their demand. He said they were told that decision about restoration of the special status of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir will be taken at an appropriate time, which is an ambiguous statement.

He said the Kashmiri leaders also demanded the release of political prisoners, an end to the extra-judicial killings and reversal of the illegal universal acts.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said these demands are being made by those Kashmiri leaders who had been part of the previous governments in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Foreign Minister Qureshi, in response to a question on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement that nuclear capability would serve no purpose with the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, said the country’s nuclear policy had “no aggressive designs”.

He said the all-parties conference called by the Indian prime minister exposed the tall claims about the normalcy of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir ended up in failure.

Qureshi said the last two years in J&K were all about the “siege of Kashmiri people” with routine incidents of extrajudicial killings, illegal detentions and abductions.

“India has exercised all tools of State oppression to curb the determination of Kashmiris, however, it has failed to subjugate them,” he said.