At UN, Islamabad accuses India of undermining talks
NO LASTING PEACE IN SOUTH ASIA WITHOUT JUST SETTLEMENT OF KASHMIR ISSUE — QURESHI
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday delivered the new Pakistani government’s first policy statement at the United Nations in Urdu, saying that while Islamabad desired good relations with India, New Delhi repeatedly suspended dialogue with Pakistan on “flimsy grounds”.
“They [Indian leaders] preferred politics over peace,” he told the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
It was the first time Pakistan delivered its address in its national language at the UN and the world body provided simultaneous translations in all UN official languages — English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.
Dialogue, the foreign minister said, was the only way to address long-standing issues, including Kashmir, that have long bedevilled South Asia.
‘Seventy years on agenda’
Qureshi said: “Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan will brook no compromise on the interests of the nation, the sovereignty of the State, or the security of its people.”
“Our Government is keen to pursue a policy of partnerships for peace, security and prosperity in our immediate neighbourhood and beyond,” he told world leaders from around the world.
On India, the foreign minister said he was set to meet his Indian counterpart, Sushma Swaraj, but New Delhi suddenly called off the dialogue, using the pretext of stamps issued months ago, of a Kashmiri activist and depicting grave human rights violations, including pellet gun victims, as an excuse to back out of the talks.
“The unresolved Jammu and Kashmir dispute hinders the realisation of the goal of durable peace between the two countries”, Qureshi told the 193-member Assembly which earlier in the day heard a strong anti-Pakistan address from the Indian external affairs minister.
“For over 70 years now, it has remained on the agenda of the UN Security Council and a blot on the conscience of humanity,” he said, adding that the people of Jammu and Kashmir had continued the struggle for their right of self-determination in the face of overwhelming oppression and gross violations of their fundamental human rights by Indian security forces.
“There can be no lasting peace in South Asia without a just settlement of the Kashmir dispute based on the UN Security Council resolutions and the will of the Kashmiri people,” the foreign minister declared.