Kashmir dispute cannot be resolved by use of force: FM Qureshi

Says there is no precedent of atrocities committed in IIOJK since August 5

ISLAMABAD:

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday that the Kashmir dispute cannot be solved by the use of force.

In a statement, the minister observed that Indian strategy of using force against the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu And Kashmir (IIOJK) for the past seven decades has totally failed.

“India tried to use force to gag the voice of the Kashmiris through draconian laws and restrictions. There is no precedent of the atrocities that have been committed in Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir since August 5 last year,” said Qureshi.

The foreign minister categorically stated that India cannot succeed in resolving the dispute by these atrocities.

"Kashmiri people bury their martyrs in Pakistan's national flag, this proves that they have not accepted Indian steps," he added.

FM Qureshi recalled his recent bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) meeting, during which he drew attention of the world towards unresolved Kashmir issue.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan will talk on Kashmir issue during his address in the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly,” he said.

Talking about the Reko Diq case, FM Qureshi termed the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes' (ICSID) grant of stay to Pakistan as a success and major relief to country's economy, which was under pressure due to the coronavirus outbreak.

On September 17, Pakistan said that the onus was on India to create an enabling environment for normalisation of relationship by reversing its ‘illegal and unilateral’ actions, ending ‘state terrorism’ against the Kashmiri people and agreeing to resolve the dispute in accordance with international legitimacy.

The statement by the foreign ministry here came in response to remarks by Indian Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan in Rajya Sabha.

In his statement, the deputy foreign minister said India wished to have good neighbourly relations with Pakistan but for that Islamabad had to create “a conducive atmosphere by taking credible, verifiable and irreversible action against terrorism”.

But Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said in a statement that Pakistan rejected baseless assertions made by the Indian state minister.

“The onus is on India to create an enabling environment by rescinding its illegal and unilateral actions, ending its state terrorism against the Kashmiri people, and agreeing to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with international legitimacy,” the spokesperson asserted.

With its gross and systematic human rights violations and state terrorism in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), India cannot mislead the world community by levelling unfounded allegations against others, he added.