Pak gets Turkey’s backing to use UN report on Kashmir at UNGA sidelines

ISLAMABAD :Pakistan plans to use a report on Kashmir by the UN Human Rights Office to highlight the issue during a conference that will be held on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said.

“At the UN, there will be a separate conference on Kashmir on the sidelines. It happens every year, but it is different this time because a new UN report has come out which sheds light on (Jammu and Kashmir),” Qureshi said.

There has been a surge in the people’s interest in human rights abuses taking place in Kashmir, he said during a news conference he jointly addressed with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday.

The UN report on the human rights situation in Kashmir, released in June, triggered a furore as it called for addressing past and ongoing rights violations in the region.

India’s foreign ministry rejected the report, the first issued by the UN on the human rights situation in both parts of Kashmir, saying it was “fallacious, tendentious and motivated” and comprised “largely unverified information”.

Cavusoglu said Turkey will stand by Pakistan in the group formed on Kashmir at the UN and support efforts for a peaceful solution to the long-standing Kashmir issue. He said it is Turkey’s desire that the Kashmir issue is resolved in a peaceful manner. Qureshi also said the Pakistan-turkey relationship is very strong as both countries understand each other’s sensitivities. He also thanked Turkey for supporting Pakistan’s application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

INDIA’S FOREIGN MINISTRY REJECTED THE REPORT, THE FIRST ISSUED BY THE UN ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN BOTH PARTS OF KASHMIR