5th August, would mark the completion of 2 yrs long military siege in IIOJK: Foreign Office Briefing Full Text

Assalam-o-Alaikum and welcome to the Weekly Press Briefing of the Foreign Office.

Let me begin with the recent visit of Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to Pakistan.

The visit took place at the invitation of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, as a follow up to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Saudi Arabia in May this year.

During the visit, the Saudi Foreign Minister held delegationlevel talks with the Foreign Minister and also called on President Dr. Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa.

During these meetings, the entire spectrum of bilateral relations, particularly in the areas of trade and investment, welfare of Pakistani Diaspora in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, regional situation and peace in Afghanistan were discussed.

The two Foreign Ministers, during their meeting, expressed satisfaction on the ongoing work related to the Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Council (SPSCC), which is aimed at imparting strategic direction to the development of Pakistan-Saudi relations.

Foreign Minister Qureshi offered Pakistan’s full support in realization of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, including by sharing of experience and provision of requisite professional and technical manpower.

The Foreign Minister also highlighted the transformational China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative and noted the vast opportunities for investment in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) developed under CPEC.

Foreign Minister Qureshi highlighted the current situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir(IIOJK) and the unabated violations of human rights being committed by the Indian occupation forces.

Discussing the situation in Afghanistan, the Foreign Minister apprised his Saudi counterpart about Pakistan’s continuing efforts for an inclusive, broad based and comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is currently inBahrain for a two-day official visit.

The Foreign Minister co-chaired with his Bahraini counterpart the 2^nd Session of Pakistan-Bahrain Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC).

During the JMC, Foreign Minister Qureshi highlighted the longstanding relations between Pakistan and Bahrain, characterized by a spirit of friendship and solidarity.

He further observed that the experience and expertise acquired by both countries in many spheres over time could be shared for their mutual benefit.

Both countries held fruitful discussions and agreed to work together for:

• Enhanced Business-to-Business interaction between the two sides;

• Early finalization of the MoU between Trade Development Authority Pakistan and Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority, and

• Increased cooperation for joint investment in industrial sector and holding expert level meetings of Joint Working Groups in agriculture, Trade & Investment, labour and manpower, oil and gas and IT sectors.

During the visit, the Foreign Minister also met with the Interior Minister and called on the Crown Prince and the Deputy Prime Minister of Bahrain.

During these meetings, wide-ranging discussions were held on a number of issues of mutual interest.

Earlier during this week, the Foreign Minister visited China to attend the Third Session of the Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue between Pakistan and China.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi exchanged views on bilateral strategic, economic and security cooperation, COVID-19 pandemic, and international and regional issues of mutual interest.

The Chinese side reaffirmed its firm support to Pakistan in safeguarding its territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.

China reiterated that the Kashmir dispute should be resolved peacefully through the UN Charter, relevant UNSC resolutions and bilateral agreements.

The two countries reaffirmed their commitment to continue to firmly advance the construction of CPEC, ensure timely completion of under-construction projects, and reviewed with satisfaction the remarkable achievements of CPEC.

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to facilitate and support the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.

Coming to the situation in the region:

We have noted with serious concern and condemn in strongest possible terms the Indian government’s recently exposed organised spying operations using an Israeli origin spyware , ‘Pegasus’.

The reported targets of these massive spying operations included journalists, politicians, human rights activists, business executives, public health experts, foreign diplomats in India and the Kashmiri leaders.

Reportedly, the targeted telephones also included at least one number used by Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as hundreds of others in Pakistan.

Keeping a clandestine tab on dissenting voices is a long-standing textbook ploy of the RSS-BJP regime.

The world has seen the true face of the so-called Indian “democracy” when the reports of EU Disinfo Lab, Indian Chronicle, surfaced last year.

In view of the gravity of these reports, we call on the relevant UN bodies to thoroughly investigate the matter, bring the facts to light, and hold the Indian perpetrators to account.

On the situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir:

5^th August 2021, would mark the completion of an unprecedented 24 months long military siege and draconian curbs on the fundamental rights and freedoms of Kashmiri people in the aftermath of India’s illegal and unilateral actions.

In keeping with its long held tradition of peddling false propaganda, India is trying to push the sham narrative of so-called “normalcy” in IIOJK. However, the situation on the ground points to the contrary.

To this day, Kashmiri leadership remains incarcerated under trumped-up charges.

Extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detentions, staged cordon-and-search operations and custodial torture by the Indian occupation forces continue with impunity.

The Indian government continues pushing its agenda of turning the Kashmiris into a minority in their own homeland through illegal changes in the demographic structure of the occupied territory.

The past two years have been marked by Pakistan’s efforts to firmly oppose the unilateral and illegal Indian actions of August 2019.

We have used every platform to highlight the legal, humanitarian and peace and security dimensions of the dispute.

The United Nations Security Council has discussed the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at least three times since 5 August 2019; the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued two reports in 2018 and 2019, making specific recommendations including the institution of an Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the gross and systematic human rights violations by India in the occupied territory;  the global parliaments have debated the issue of Jammu and Kashmir; the international human rights and humanitarian organizations as well as global media have consistently raised the issue of human rights violations in IIOJK.

We once again call upon the international community to urge the Government of India to:

• Reverse its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019;
• Lift the continuing inhuman military siege;
• Remove restrictions on communications, movement and peaceful assembly;
• Release the incarcerated Kashmiri leaders and allow them to express the wishes of the Kashmiri people;
• Free arbitrarily and illegally detained Kashmiri youth;
• Reverse the new domicile rules designed to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory;
• Remove the draconian laws granting impunity to the Indian occupation forces;
• Stop sponsoring terrorism against the people of IIOJK;
• Desist from any further actions in IIOJK to perpetuate its illegal occupation; and
• Fulfill its obligation of holding a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, to let the Kashmiris exercise their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in numerous UNSC resolutions.

The Government and the people of Pakistan will continue to stand with Kashmiris in their just struggle till the realization of their right to self-determination.

I thank you and am happy to take questions on these or other foreign policy related developments.