Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi boycotted the speech of Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday at the meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers in New York.
"I can't sit with the Kashmir killer," he told reporters after boycotting the speech.
The foreign minister's spokesman had previously announced that Qureshi had submitted his presence at the meeting during the speech to curfew in Kashmir occupied by the Indians.
"Pakistan will not get involved with the & # 39; Kashmir Butcher & # 39; until (India) lifts the siege and puts an end to the atrocities in occupied Kashmir," said a statement issued by the spokesman.
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"They must safeguard the human rights of all cashmere and ensure that they are protected and not violated or trampled."
On August 5, the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stripped the cashmere of constitutional rights they had for seven decades through a hasty presidential order. Since then, there has been an indefinite curfew in occupied Kashmir, while elected leaders are still under house arrest.
Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the issue of unilateral annexation and the brutalities of Indian forces in occupied Kashmir on Friday at the United Nations General Assembly.
FM Qureshi, Saudi counterpart discuss Kashmir
Foreign Minister Qureshi held a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir, and discussed the situation in occupied Kashmir, as well as the predominant threats to peace and security. in the region.
During the meeting outside the 74th session of the UNGA, the Foreign Minister thanked his Saudi counterpart for organizing a meeting of the Contact Group of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (ICO) on Kashmir.
The Foreign Minister said: "Holding the emergency meeting in Makkah and raising his voice for the people of Kashmir was a timely measure in the context of India's unilateral step of August 5 annexation," he said, adding that The meeting caught the attention of the international community. towards the subject
"Eight million Muslims in occupied Kashmir are looking towards the ICO. The organization will have to continuously raise its voice against Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir," the minister said.
The two foreign ministers reiterated their determination to continue joint efforts to establish peace in the region.
Pakistan will host the next Saarc summit
Later in the day, FM Qureshi announced that Pakistan will host the next summit of the South Asian Regional Cooperation Association (Saarc) in Islamabad, as no member state opposed the proposal during an informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers.
He said he participated in the meeting, after his Indian counterpart left, and presented his point of view.
Declaring it a "good development," he said Pakistan will propose dates for the 19th summit. He recalled that Islamabad would host the 19th summit of the regional bloc in November 2016, but India on that occasion forced its cancellation upon withdrawing from the meeting.
Since then, Pakistan has not been able to convene the event due to an Indian virtual veto in "one pretext or another." The participation of all Member States is mandatory for the holding of a Saarc summit.
The Foreign Minister said that last year he said that the forum is above "our differences" and that no bilateral dispute is discussed at the summits of Saarc, so all members should participate in it, but two members had opposed.
"Today, when we discuss the Saarc summit […] As host, I invited all members of Saarc to Islamabad for the summit, "he said, adding that this year no one opposed the proposal and it was decided that the next summit will be held in Islamabad.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1507495/fm-qureshi-boycotts-indian-counterparts-speech-at-un-in-protest-against-kashmir-oppression