Prime Minister Imran Khan met Tuesday with his New Zealand counterpart, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and discussed with her the growing problem of anti-Muslim sentiment in the world.
The meeting took place in New York on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Both leaders "discussed the challenges of anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia," said a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister.
The prime minister also informed Prime Minister Ardern about the "plight of cashmere and the danger of a massacre" in Kashmir occupied by India, which has entered its 50th day of a total communications blackout.
The blockade of communications was enforced before the issuance of a presidential decree by the Indian Prime Minister, Minister Narendra Modi, on August 5 to strip the region of its autonomous state.
"Once the curfew is lifted, there will be a great crisis," the prime minister told Prime Minister Ardern's statement.
According to the statement, the prime minister also thanked the "leadership of the New Zealand prime minister after the attacks against mosques in his country."
Ardern has been praised throughout the world for reaching the local Muslim community after the horrible attack, which he described as terrorism.
As they developed the days after the attack, she was photographed with a black scarf over her head and hugging members of the Muslim community in a refugee center in Christchurch.
He also promised to change the country's gun laws, with a ban on semi-automatic and automatic weapons imposed only one week after the attacks.
The prime minister, a self-proclaimed Kashmir ambassador, pledges to highlight the problem of Kashmir in the world parliament, the UN General Assembly, with his trip duly called "Kashmir Mission".
Since his arrival in New York on Saturday, he has informed world leaders about the worsening situation in the disputed territory.
He received the support of China, which promised to support Pakistan in all matters of its central national interest.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres highlighted the growing tensions in South Asia, an obvious reference to the current confrontation between India and Pakistan over occupied Kashmir, and called for dialogue to resolve the crisis in his speech of opening in the UNGA.
The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan, during his speech, also called for an end to the Kashmir dispute through the dialogue between India and Pakistan.
On Monday, in his meeting with the Prime Minister, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, had once again expressed his willingness to mediate between Pakistan and India on the issue of Kashmir.
"If I can help, I certainly will," he had said. "If both (Pakistan and India) want, I'm ready, willing and able to do it."
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1507114/pm-discusses-anti-muslim-sentiment-kashmir-issue-with-new-zealand-counterpart
