BY: Images News Network/PTI
Islamabad/Srinagar/New Delhi, Jan 29: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Tuesday telephoned Hurriyat-M chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and discussed with him Islamabad’s efforts to highlight the Kashmir issue.
Pakistan Foreign Office said Qureshi spoke with Mirwaiz and discussed with him the efforts of Pakistan’s government to highlight the Kashmir issue.
Qureshi also mentioned the June 2018 report issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and a report of the UK Parliament, the FO said in a statement.
He also emphasised that India should permit the visit of the Commission of Inquiry, as envisaged in both reports.
“The Foreign Minister also informed Mirwaiz Umar Farooq of the upcoming events, being organized in London at the House of Commons and the exhibition being held in London on 4-5 February 2019 respectively,” it said.
The statement said these, again, are efforts to highlight the centrality of Kashmir dispute and the “grave human rights violations against the Kashmiri people, by India, which are being widely condemned and need to be immediately stopped.”
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, it said, greatly appreciated the efforts of the Government of Pakistan. He emphasised that the “Indian atrocities shall never be able to suppress the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who will continue to raise their voice against severe Indian repression and in the face of Indian black laws.”
Mirwaiz informed Qureshi that he would have wanted to be present for the London events, but his “passport and those of his contemporaries, had been confiscated by the government of India, to prevent them from travelling abroad.”(With PTI inputs)
Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s telephonic conversation with Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq reflected the “duplicity in Pakistani leadership’s approach on ties with India”, official sources said here Tuesday.
In Islamabad, the Pakistan Foreign Office said Qureshi spoke with the Hurriyat-M leader and discussed with him efforts of Pakistan government to highlight the Kashmir issue.
The sources said people of India will defeat all “nefarious designs” aimed at creating disharmony and terrorist violence in India.
“Such an attempt by Pakistan Foreign Minister is a regressive step and is contrary to the overall perception which Pakistan leadership is trying to create,” they said.
“It reflects duplicity in Pakistan leadership’s approach,” said a source.
The sources said media antics of Pakistani leadership cannot divert attention from the fact that its establishment’s hands are “stained with the blood of innocent Indians, including in Jammu and Kashmir and in territory under its illegal occupation.”
After taking charge as Pakistan PM, Imran Khan has been saying that he wants to improve ties with India and that both sides should hold talks to resolve outstanding issues.
India has been maintaining that Pakistan has to stop “cross-border terrorism” for any meaningful engagement.
The Pakistan Foreign office said Qureshi also mentioned the June 2018 report issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and a report of the UK Parliament.
“Pakistan’s repeated attempts to incite disharmony and violence in India continue. Pakistan needs to focus on addressing human rights situation within its own territory and promoting and protecting its own citizens, especially from minority community,” the source here said.
“The persecution and discrimination against different ethnic populations including Pashtuns, Baloch, Ahmediyas, Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan needs to end,” it said.
