Pakistan rules out any back door diplomacy with India

IIOJK situation is deteriorating day by day and Pakistan would not consider such option, says FO spokesperson

ISLAMABAD:

Islamabad has ruled out any back channel diplomacy with New Delhi, saying it is out of question owing to worsening human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

“Not at all in the circumstances we are. Not in the face of the brutality that is happening in IIOJK,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said on Thursday in her last media briefing after her successor Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri was appointed on the post.

She clarified that situation of IIOJK is deteriorating day by day and Pakistan would not consider any back channel diplomacy in the current scenario.

The spokesperson said Pakistan valued its longstanding relations with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), however, the “people of Pakistan had some expectations from the body over the Jammu and Kashmir dispute”.

Asked about the remarks of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who mentioned the delay on the part of OIC to convene the meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers, she said Pakistan “acknowledged and deeply appreciated the OIC’s role in highlighting the issue”.

She said three meetings of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir were held in one year, two of ministerial level.

On Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, Farooqui said Pakistan had conveyed India the August 3 directive of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

She said as per the IHC, India had been communicated through diplomatic channels for engaging a lawyer for the serving Navy Commander.

The FO spokesperson said yesterday’s meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Jammu and Kashmir was a clear testimony that the dispute was “neither an internal matter of India nor a bilateral issue, but a matter of international significance”.

She rejected the impression that Pakistan’s new political map was a diversion from its 72-year-old stance.

“Pakistan still supports the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the resolutions of UNSC and as per the aspirations of Kashmiri people.”

On Afghanistan, she said that Pakistan was committed to the resumption of peace and reconciliation process in its neighbouring country as “any delay would help the spoilers to inflict damage upon the situation”.

She said the government is in touch with all stakeholders and interlocutors for early resumption of the Afghan peace process.