Pakistan urges India to allow UN observers, int’l media to visit occupied Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday urged New Delhi to allow the observers of the United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the OIC Independent permanent human rights commission and the international media to visit occupied Kashmir to assess the real situation in the valley, ARY News reported.       

In his weekly news briefing in Islamabad today, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said that as part of its propaganda, India recently took another selected group of New Delhi-based diplomats on a guided tour to occupied Kashmir.

“Such guided tours are a smokescreen, aimed at diverting international attention from India’s egregious human rights violations in IOK and creating a false impression of normalcy,” he added.

The spokesperson said the visit means nothing in the absence of access to all the areas and free interaction with the Kashmiri people and the civil society in an atmosphere free of intimidation.

Read More: Indian plan to take diplomats to occupied Kashmir aimed at misleading world: FO

Responding to a question, Zahid Hafeez said that India should facilitate the Sikh Yatrees desiring to visit their religious sites in Pakistan. Referring to the initiative of opening Kartarpur Corridor by Pakistan, he said Pakistan has always welcomed and facilitated Sikh pilgrims to visit their religious places.

To another question, Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said Pakistan desires that the developments made so far toward a durable peace in Afghanistan should be preserved and built upon. He said all the stakeholders in Afghanistan should seize the opportunity of reaching long-lasting peace.