At UNGA, FM Qureshi raises Kashmir issue, India's involvement in terrorism inside Pakistan

NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday said that Pakistan is keen to pursue a policy of partnerships for peace, security and prosperity in region and the world but not at the cost of its sovereignty, ARY News reported.

Addressing the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he said that Pakistan will continue to support the comprehensive reforms in the Security Council and wants to see it more democratic and transparent.

The foreign minister maintained that Pakistan has been an active member of the United Nations since its inception and is at the top of the list of countries, which participate in the peace keeping mission of the United Nations.

The minister said that Pakistan wants to have friendly relations with the neighboring countries, adding that Pakistan wants to resolve all outstanding issues with India through dialogue but the Indian government has wasted an opportunity for the third time.

“We (foreign minister of India and Pakistan) were to meet on the sidelines of this UNGA Session to talk about all issues with India- India called off dialogue the third time for the Modi Government – each time on flimsy grounds. They preferred politics over peace,” said Qureshi.

He said that unresolved Kashmir dispute poses great threat to peace and stability in the region and peace can never be established in South Asia unless the issue of Kashmir is resolved in accordance with the UN resolutions.

“The unresolved Jammu and Kashmir dispute hinders the realization of the goal of durable peace between our two countries. For over seventy years now, it has remained on the agenda of the UN Security Council and a blot on the conscience of humanity. For seventy years the people of occupied Jammu & Kashmir have struggled for their rights of self-determination in the face of overwhelming oppression and gross violations of their fundamental human rights by the Indian occupation forces,” said the foreign minister.

He said that India must stop human rights violations in the Occupied Kashmir and stop ceasefire violations at the Line of Control.

“To divert the world’s attention from its brutalities, India frequently violates the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Kashmir. Despite numerous violations Pakistan has acted with restraint. But if India does venture across the LoC, or acts upon its doctrine of “limited” war against Pakistan, it will evoke a strong and matching response,” Qureshi told the world body.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that India has been sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan and Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav was involved in planning and sponsoring terrorist activities in Pakistan on behalf of Indian government.

“We have in our custody a serving Indian Naval officer, Commander Kalbhushan Jadhav, who has provided us with the most incriminating evidence by accepting that he, on the instructions of his government, financed, planned and executed acts of terrorism and violence in Pakistan. This is but one Indian state sponsored official terrorist. Many more are launched inside Pakistan to create terror and mayhem by our eastern neighbour,” said Qureshi.

He reminded the international communit that it is India that perpetrates state sponsored terrorism in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India.

https://arynews.tv/en/full-text-of-shah-mehmood-qureshis-speech-at-unga/

About the Afghan issue, the foreign minister stated that Afghanistan, and along with it, Pakistan, has suffered heavily at the hands of global power play, strategic miscalculations and cognitive dissonance, adding that there is no military solution to the war in Afghanistan is now a foregone conclusion.

“Pakistan will continue to lend its support to an Afghan owned and Afghan led process of peace and reconciliation. On the bilateral plane, our two countries have operationalized the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity. It lays down the blueprint for extensive engagements in all areas of common interests,” said Qureshi.

He urged upon the international community to act for “it is time to act upon reaching a negotiated settlement”.

The foreign minister concluded his speech by summing up all the major issues faced by humanity in different regions of the world.

“The Kashmiri wife who lost her husband; the Kashmiri school boy who lost his eye sight and his future to pellet gun Injuries; the Syrian father who saw his child drown, the Palestinian girl who suffocates under siege, the African migrant willing to risk all for a better life, continue to look to this, the United Nations for support and succor. Let us not fail them any longer,” said the foreign minister.