UAE, Saudi FMS in Pakistan to discuss Kashmir issue
ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia sent their top diplomats to Pakistan on Wednesday to help Islamabad defuse tensions with India over the Kashmir region.
Anti-india sentiment has grown in Pakistan since New Delhi moved to strip the Indianadministered portion of Kashmir of its limited autonomy on Aug.5.
In a rare move, a single aircrat carried the two Arab diplomats — UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Bin Ahmed Al Jubeir — to Islamabad in what Pakistani authorities said was a symbolic show of unity.
Minutes before the diplomats’ plane touched down, Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said the military will “fight to the last bullet and the last soldier” if all peaceful options fail to resolve the Kashmir issue. He spoke at a press conference in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
A young man has died in Kashmir nearly a month ater he was injured in a protest, the first such death that authorities have confirmed since India revoked the region’s special autonomy last month.
The two diplomats held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. A statement released ater the meetings said Saudi Arabia and the UAE “would remain engaged to help address the current challenges, defuse tensions, and promote an environment of peace and security.” Qureshi had said on Tuesday that the diplomatic visit followed direct appeals from Imran Khan.
They were also set to meet with country’s army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Separate from the Kashmir issue, Indian and Pakistani officials met on Wednesday to finalise a drat agreement for the opening of a border crossing that would allow Sikh pilgrims from India to cross easily into Pakistan and visit a shrine there.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said a drat agreement was close to being reached, following the meeting in the Indian town of Wagah-atari.
However, S.C.L. Das, a joint secretary in the Home Ministry, told reporters in India that the two sides could not finalise the agreement because of Islamabad’s “persistent inflexibility” on the issue of charging a service fee for the pilgrims.
India officially declared on Wednesday that the leaders of two Pakistan-based groups are terrorists under a new law.
The Indian Home Ministry named Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-mohammed, and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-taiba, as terrorists under the amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act.