ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said he along with Prime Minister Imran Khan will go to Saudi Arabia on September 19.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said they would hold an important discussion with the Saudi Arabian leadership before taking crucial measures regarding Kashmir.
He said Indian diplomacy had failed at international forums. Despite India’s opposition, the EU Parliament for the first time will bring Kashmir issue into debate at this level today, he added.
Also Read: US Presidential Candidates express concerns on Kashmir situation
He said a large number of the UK and US parliamentarians had demanded from India to end human rights violations in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
“We have to internationalise this issue again. This issue had been put on the back burner as the world’s attention had been diverted after the 9/11 incident. India linked the struggle for self-determination to terrorism,” he said.
The foreign minister said Pakistan decided to approach the UNSC, as it was still on its agenda, to internationalise it.
He said the UNSC after 54 years brought it into discussion. “This was though discussed regularly at the international platform but it could not be internationalized. Now it has been internationalized which is a big achievement for Kashmir,” he maintained adding that India had tried its best to put hurdles in the UNSC discussion on Kashmir.
Those who said the resolutions were an old talk had realised that the discussion had reaffirmed UNSC’s pledge to resolve the long-standing issue, he said.
FM Qureshi said if Russia, France, US and UK would not have shown softness it could not have been possible. He said the UNSC said the issue had to be resolved according to its resolutions and through bilateral talks, which had put stamp on Pakistan’s stance.
Highlighting another big achievement, he said Pakistan also galvanised the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members on the issue despite their severe internal differences. The OIC had unanimously demanded to lift the curfew in Kashmir, he added.
The foreign minister said in international affairs you have to work in the given space.
He also said Pakistan’s stance had recently been endorsed by 58 members including China at the Human Rights Council. “I feel proud to say that no HR organisation at the UN HR Council endorsed India’s motive behind Kashmir move,” he said.
