Significant steps on IOK after Saudi visit: FM Qureshi

PTI’s All Parties Kashmir Conference issued seven-point communiqué

LAHORE: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said Pakistan would take significant steps on the issue of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Saudi Arabia on September 19.

Speaking at the All Parties Kashmir Conference organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Punjab in Lahore, the foreign minister said that he would accompany the prime minister on his trip to Saudi Arabia and “important meetings” would be held there.
“After those meetings, we will discuss taking further measures,” he added.

The all parties conference on Kashmir issued a seven-point communiqué at the conclusion of the event.

The minister said Pakistan had been successful in internationalising the Kashmir issue despite India’s best efforts to hide its brutality in the occupied valley.

“The Kashmiri struggle has now taken a new turn.”
He noted that the issue of Kashmir had been recognised globally and 58 countries had supported Pakistan’s stance on the issue on his recent visit to Geneva.

“India tried to postpone the meeting of the UN Security Council,” Qureshi said, adding: “The Kashmir issue being internationalised was the biggest threat to them [India], and we [Pakistan] have been successful in doing that.”

The minister pointed out that even the chief justice of India was asking the Modi government to return normalcy to occupied Kashmir as soon as possible.

Elaborating further, the foreign minister said 50 British House of Commons members had written letters supporting Pakistan’s stance against India.

However, he expressed disdain over being unable to arrange a formal meeting with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). “It is very difficult to arrange a meeting with the OIC because its members have many conflicts among themselves,” he added.

Qureshi also reiterated the atrocities carried out in the disputed valley since August 5, when IOK was stripped of its special status by the Modi-led government.

The minister requested the opposition parties to set aside their differences with the government and back it on the national cause of Kashmir.