FM Qureshi urges India to end state-terrorism

While addressing at Islamabad Policy Research Institute, Foreign Minister said, “India must respect the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) resolutions and let the Kashmiris exercise their right to self-determination”.

Qureshi said India in a state of “power drunkenness” had embarked upon a Hitlerian final solution for the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He termed the August 5 decision on Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) a beginning of intensification of the tsunami of Indian state-terrorism.

He mentioned that the resolutions of the UNSC, at which India covets a permanent seat, were cast aside and no tool of cruelty was deemed excessive by the world’s so-called largest democracy.

The foreign minister said two years on, the Kashmiris continued to languish in the “largest concentration camp on the planet”.

“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,” he stressed.

He said even COVID-19, which generated unprecedented empathy in the human race, had done nothing to bring even an iota of relief to the Kashmiris.

 “I am happy to note that our efforts have not been in vain. The Security Council has discussed the Jammu & Kashmir dispute thrice since August 2019,” said Qureshi.

He called upon the international community to exhort India to “treat Kashmiris like human beings”.

“This will pull out the dagger, which rankles in the heart of bilateral and regional peace and bodes ill for international peace and security,” he said, adding that it would also unlock the potential of South Asia.

Qureshi said Pakistan was shifting focus from geo-politics to geo-economics and wanted peace with India, but not at the expense of the Kashmiris.

“We hope Indian leadership will prefer statesmanship over populism,” he said, and added that together, it could weaken the extremist narrative through a genuine pacific settlement of a festering dispute.

COURTESY: ASSOCIATE PRESS OF PAKISTAN