Pakistan not part of arms race in region: FM Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Wednesday Pakistan is not part of an arms race in the region, ARY News reported.

Addressing the National Conference on Strategic Stability in South Asia in Islamabad, the minister said India’s ballistic missile programme would cause an imbalance in the region.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will have to adopt a balanced policy, he said, calling on major world powers to understand the prevailing geostrategic situation in the region.

Pakistan had given India a suggestion aimed at stopping an arms race in the region but so far New Delhi has not responded to it, the foreign minister lamented.

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He said Pakistan remains firm in its commitment to improving its relations with all neighbouring countries to build a prosperous South Asia.

The foreign minister stressed that resolution of conflicts is vital to strategic stability in the region. He said the long-standing Kashmir dispute posed a threat to regional peace, adding the dispute remains unresolved for about half a century.

Qureshi said India’s denying Kashmiris right to self-determination and its flagrant human rights violations had led to a feeling of frustration amongst the Kashmiris.

He said the freedom struggle in the occupied Kashmir valley had gained momentum and caught world attention.