Rebuff to Modi: Nawaz reiterates ‘fullest support’ to Kashmiris

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called upon the international community to take stock of the worsening atrocities in the Indian-occupied Kashmir.

“The world needs to take stock of the brutalities against unarmed and innocent Kashmiri people who are sacrificing for attaining their inalienable right to freedom,” the PM said on Tuesday - a  day after his Indian counterpart accused Islamabad of human rights violations in Balochistan and elsewhere.

Nawaz said this during a meeting with outgoing president of Azad Kashmir Sardar Yaqoob Khan.

He reiterated Pakistan’s “firm resolve to extend fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of the Kashmiri people,” a statement issued by the PM House stated.

The premier condemned the “Indian state oppression on the innocent and defenceless people of Indian-occupied Kashmir.”

Nawaz said Pakistan would continue to support the just cause of the Kashmiri people at every forum “politically, diplomatically and ethically,” during a meeting with AJK’s President-elect Masood Khan.

A well-placed source at the PM House told The Express Tribune that the premier has instructed diplomats to seek Masood Khan’s assistance vis-à-vis a crucial upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly starting on September 13,  where Pakistan would be taking up human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.

Also, Sharif wrote separate letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, calling both the dignitaries to play their role for an end to persistent and egregious violation of the basic human rights in the valley.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2016.