Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pro-India Kashmir leaders on Thursday has failed to bring both the parties on common ground.

On Thursday, Modi met politicians from illegally occupied Kashmir for the first time since the removal of the region’s semi-autonomous status almost two years ago.

“Kashmiris have refused to accept India’s actions of 5 August 2019,” Qureshi said, adding that New Delhi cannot continue to use “tools of oppression to subjugate the people of illegally occupied Kashmir.”

Speaking to the media, the foreign minister said that Modi admitted distances between Delhi and Kashmir and the meeting failed in its attempt to give an impression of normalcy returning to the Indian occupied territory.

“Yesterday’s interaction was a ploy that failed to achieve anything,” he said adding that atrocities against Kashmiris in the last two years have tainted the credibility of India, besides also raising questions on Modi.

He said that even the Indian prime minister had to admit that Kashmiris are annoyed with August 05 actions.

Kashmiri political leaders on Thursday said they presented their demand for the restoration of statehood in a meeting with Modi.

The foreign minister further shared how Indian actions have ruined the economy in the occupied territory and said that revenue from tourism, fruit and industry have stopped owing to Indian atrocities.

The extrajudicial killings are also ongoing in occupied Kashmir,” he said adding that yesterday’s meeting also called for the release of Hurriyat leaders and an end to human rights abuses in the region including extra-judicial murders.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan has raised the issue of demographic changes in Kashmir at every global forum including the United Nations and international powers have also rejected unilateral Indian actions of August 05.

Pakistan’s nuclear policy

In response to a question on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement that nuclear capability would serve no purpose with a resolution of the Kashmir dispute, said the country’s nuclear policy had “no aggressive designs”.

“Such a decision [nuclear disarmament] is dependent on several factors including the security environment, outstanding disputes, and balance of force,” he said.

Asked if Pakistan and India were holding a backdoor channel of communication, he categorically dismissed the notion, however, said there existed a “time to time interaction at an intelligence level in the area of regional security”.

To a question on rising violence in Afghanistan, he said Pakistan was concerned about the situation where several elements and “spoilers” could be held responsible who did not want to see peace and stability in Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan had been advocating and facilitating the Afghan peace process with its role of “becoming a part of the solution and not a problem”.

“A negotiated political settlement in Afghanistan is in everybody’s Interest and was the best way forward,” he said.

Qureshi emphasized that the Afghans, including the government and Taliban, needed to sit together. “Whatever the outcome evolves out of their negotiations, Pakistan would respect that,” he added, saying that “We will remain the partners of peace and not conflict.”