FM terms UK debate on IIOJK diplomatic win for Pakistan

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday hailed Thursday’s debate in British parliament on the worsening situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), terming it “another diplomatic victory" of Pakistan against India.

In a statement, the foreign minister emphasised that India was propagating that IIOJK was its internal issue but the British parliamentarians made it clear that it was a global issue on which many United Nations Security Council resolutions had been passed.

“This is not an internal matter of India at all,” Qureshi said, adding that India had been giving the impression to the world that the situation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir has returned to normal but the British parliamentarians exposed India’s false claims.

In an unprecedented development, Britain’s House of Commons debated the “critical situation” in IIOJK on Thursday and rejected the “argument that Kashmir is an internal matter of India”. The debate proposed by Labour MP Sarah Owen, saw all parliamentarians in agreement “to hold the Indian government accountable for its abusive behaviour, especially in the Kashmir Valley”.

Read more: UK MPs reject India’s stance on Kashmir

They also hoped that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is due to visit India at some point, will raise the IIOJK issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and seek his reassurance that “all is being done to seek a permanent solution to the Kashmir dispute”.

Qureshi termed the development a “success of Pakistan’s diplomatic approach” and a “source of encouragement” for the Kashmiris. “Pakistan has been exposing the Indian atrocities in IIOJK for long and now these are being raised in the British Parliament, endorsing Pakistan’s stance,” he said.

He added that the life in IIOJK was marked by the extrajudicial killings, illegal arrest of Kashmiri youth, abuse of women, communication blockade and denial of access to independent observers and international media to the occupied territories.

Incoming US administration

About the next US administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who is due to take office on January 20, the foreign minister said that many Congressmen were familiar with the region and the atrocities perpetrated against the Kashmiris.

“We expect them to raise voice in the US Congress to save the unarmed Kashmiris from Indian tyranny and the prolonged military siege,” he said. He stressed the need for the visit of delegations from the US Congress, British Parliament and European Parliament to IIOJK.

Regarding Afghanistan, the foreign minister said that Pakistan would continue to play its conciliatory role in this peace process. “India is playing the role of a spoiler in peace efforts in Afghanistan, by making a vicious attempt to use Afghan territory against Pakistan,” Qureshi said. “We have informed the Afghan authorities about this situation and are continuing to present this evidence to the world.”

PDM protest

Qureshi said that disappointment had spread within the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and the opposition alliance was holding rallies only to prevent a sense of frustration among its workers. “We are aware of the PDM’s internal turmoil,” he said.

“[There are] differences among them [PDM leadership] on the issue of resignations,” Qureshi said, adding that difference between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leaderships were visible to everyone.

He stressed that the Supreme Court had taken a clear stand on the sit-ins, whereas the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had also given its opinion on the inconvenience caused to the people due to sit-ins. Talking about the law and order situation in the region, Qureshi said that Pakistan was satisfied that the world had supported the country’s narrative of the past two years.