ISLAMABAD: A 10-member delegation of European Parliamentarians, including MEP Richard Corbett, leader of the Labour Party in Europe, MEP Irina Von Wiese, Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and MP Nazia Rehman, called on Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi here on Tuesday.
During the meeting, they discussed the deteriorating human rights situation in India occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOK).
The delegation is on an 8-day visit to Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
While highlighting the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, the foreign minister appreciated the efforts of the Pakistani and Kashmiri diaspora and those involved in raising the issue of gross human rights violations in India occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOK) in Europe and beyond.
He stated the successive reports by the Office of the High Commissioner for
human Rights (OHCHR), June 2018 and July 2019, the UK Parliament’s All Parties Parliamentary Kashmir Group (APPKG) report, as well as the hearing by European Parliament’s Sub-Committee on Human Rights in Brussels lent credence to Pakistan’s stance on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and helped raise awareness in the international community about the horrendous human rights situation in IOK.
He stressed the need for consistent efforts to build upon the current momentum and sensitize the international community regarding the deplorable situation of human rights in IOK.
Qureshi lauded efforts of the European MEPs and other delegation members in highlighting the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in Europe. He also reaffirmed Pakistan’s principled political, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle for the right to self-determination.
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