FO ‘disappointed’ premier on Kashmir issue: Dr Shireen

Calls for moving away from traditional diplomacy to highlight Kashmir cause

ISLAMABAD:

Expressing her dismay, Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari on Saturday said that the Foreign Office and the institutions formulating policy on Kashmir had “let down” Prime Minister Imran Khan and Kashmiris on the Kashmir issue.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan with his single-handed efforts had changed the whole narrative on Kashmir. He [PM Imran] gave statements, twitted and delivered speeches [on Kashmir cause] but the Foreign Office and institutions disappointed him,” she said.

"If the Foreign Office and other institutions formulating policy on Kashmir had carried forward the premier’s narrative, the situation would have been vastly different today and the world would have taken notice [of Kashmir issue]," she added.

The human rights minister made these remarks while addressing an event titled “Through the Kashmir Art” at a local hotel in the federal capital.

Criticising the Foreign Office further, Dr Shireen said that the foreign minister would just call his counterparts or highlight the Kashmir issue at an international forum and that the diplomats of the country had nothing less to do besides leisurely staying at hotels and adorning starched and three-piece suits.

She questioned whether Pakistan’s diplomatic clout was even less than West African country like Burkina Faso, which had managed to get a resolution passed by the United Nations against police brutality in the United States against George Flyod's murder.

The minister called for moving away from traditional diplomacy and suggested adopting modern methods.

She stressed on the need to spread the Kashmiri culture, poetry and their heart-touching music so that the Kashmir issue could be highlighted in the world.

Underlining the role of civil societies, she maintained that no country in the European Union was admiring the ties between the United Arab Emirates and Israel because the civil societies in these countries were active.