FO dismisses minister's ‘narrow vision’ claim

Spokesperson says it takes cause of Jammu & Kashmir very seriously; is guided by govt's vision

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday dismissed criticism by a senior minister that the external affairs ministry has a ‘narrow vision’ and done little to advance Pakistan’s case on the longstanding Kashmir dispute.

Recently, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari questioned performance of the Foreign Office, a part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the National Assembly session.

She endorsed the view expressed by some opposition MPs that the Foreign Office has ‘narrow vision.’ It was unusual for a sitting minister to criticise the office, which in reality works under the government.

At a weekly news briefing, the Foreign Office, however, rejected the criticism, insisting that the “vision of Pakistan’s foreign policy is given at the leadership level by the government.”

“The steering of this vision is carried out under the direction of the foreign minister [Shah Mahmood Qureshi] by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui while responding to a question with regard to Mazari’s diatribe.

“We take the cause of Jammu & Kashmir very seriously. It is the core issue of Pakistan’s foreign policy. The observation that the Foreign Office is not taking it seriously is not accurate,” she said.

Listing the steps the Foreign Office took after illegal annexation of Occupied Kashmir [IOK] by India in August 2019, she said a Kashmir cell was also established in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.



“It is a multi-agency unit dedicated to monitor the evolving situation in Jammu & Kashmir and to take forward the strategy articulated by the government; steered by the foreign minister and executed by over 100 missions of Pakistan all over the world.

“As I said earlier, taking forward the strategy on the Kashmir cause is not an event, it is a process. All aspects of Jammu & Kashmir dispute including legal, political and humanitarian are taken forward in accordance with the UNSC [United Nations Security Council] resolutions.”

She said Pakistan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have never been shy or negligent towards this core issue of our foreign policy. “We are dedicated in taking it forward,” she added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has publically criticized the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for doing little on Kashmir dispute. However, the Foreign Office spokesperson portrayed a positive picture of the contributions of the organization of 57 Islamic countries.

“Historically, the OIC has been one of the strongest proponents of Kashmir cause and several OIC resolutions have been passed on different aspects of Jammu and Kashmir dispute, including human rights violations, legal aspects of the dispute and the peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute as per the UNSC Resolutions,” she said.

Further elaborating, Aisha said for decades the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir has played a dynamic role in bringing the issue to the forefront at the international level.

“After August 5, the OIC Contact Group has played an active role. The OIC Contact Group met at the ministerial level on the sidelines of UNGA [United Nations General Assembly] session [last year].

“The OIC IPHRC [Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission] reported extensively on the human rights situation in IOK. Pakistan remains engaged with the OIC at leadership level on the Kashmir cause and several ideas are discussed regularly in this regard,” she said.

She, however, avoided giving a direct answer to a question whether Saudi Arabia was reluctant to convene a meeting of OIC foreign ministers to exclusively discuss the Kashmir issue.

On Afghan peace talks, the spokesperson said Pakistan is closely following the developments regarding the US-Taliban peace process.

“We believe that it was a good development that Taliban have showed their readiness to agree to call for reduction in violence. This is a step forward towards the peace agreement,” she said.

“We hope that the US-Taliban peace talks would come to its logical conclusion leading to Intra-Afghan negotiations. This was also the subject of Ambassador Khalilzad’s recent visit to Pakistan,” she added.