Dar calls for self-determination right for Kashmiris

ISLAMABAD:

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar Friday said people of Jammu and Kashmir should be given the right to self-determination according to the United Nations Security Council resolutions pending for the last many decades.

In an interview with TRT World television, he said India could not change the demographics of Jammu and Kashmir by bringing in settlers. He said India took illegal and unilateral actions about Kashmir in 2019 contrary to the UN charter and decades old resolutions of the Security Council.

The right to self-determination of people of Kashmir and Palestine should be respected, he asserted.

He said Pakistan and Turkiye had very close brotherly relations for decades and leadership of the two countries always coordinated on issues of importance.

Recently both sides held the 7th High Level Strategic Council meeting co-chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he said adding security and global challenges were discussed threadbare during the delegation level talks and dozens of memorandums of understanding were signed.

The foreign ministers of the two countries would monitor the work of the 11 joint groups formed by the council in different areas and would report to the leadership for further consideration.

Pakistan and Turkiye had very close cooperation in areas of trade, investment, defence, security, regional issues and anti-terrorism, he said adding both countries would be jointly building naval ships as part of their cooperation in the defence sector.