Qureshi urges foreign diplomats 'to stop India' from rights violations in occupied Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday met with Ambassadors, heads of mission, and members of the Diplomatic Corps to speak to them about the heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.

According to a statement posted on Twitter, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal wrote that Qureshi briefed "the Heads of Mission / Ambassadors and members of the Diplomatic Corps rejecting the Indian decision to try to change disputed status of IOK".

The FM also pushed for the diplomats to make an effort "to stop India from committing blatant violations of human rights of Kashmiri people".

Qureshi "urged them to stop India from committing blatant violations of human rights of Kashmiri people as it has turned IOK into the largest prison in the world by deploying over 900,000 troops to subjugate 14 million Kashmiris," Dr Faisal wrote.

Earlier in the day, the foreign minister — while addressing a news conference — announced that Pakistan would approach the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over India’s move to revoke Article 370. He said he had told his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar, that Islamabad dismissed New Delhi’s decision to term revoking Article 370 "an internal matter".

Qureshi noted: “I said this was not right and Pakistan dismisses this stance. Occupied Kashmir is an internationally recognised dispute.

"There are several UNSC resolutions on this and making those as the basis we have decided to once again go to the UNSC.”

The FM also rejected Jaishankar's statement that revoking occupied Kashmir's special status was aimed at the socio-economic development of the valley’s residents.

"If this was the case, what stopped them [India] from taking such measures when Article 370 was made part of the Indian constitution seven decades ago."

The FM also brought attention to the countless times former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had made promises and commitments of Kashmir’s future being decided by goodwill and pleasure of the people of the valley. 

On Monday, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government scrapped Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution that granted special status to occupied Kashmir, FM Qureshi had said there was a threat of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Muslim-majority, Himalayan region.

He had said Islamabad would request and appeal to the United Nations (UN), Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), ally nations, and human rights organisations not to remain silent on this issue and speak on what Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan termed was New Delhi's "illegal" move.

'Several resolutions' of UNSC

Qureshi had stressed then that the situation in occupied Kashmir was more serious than before.

“We will consult our legal experts and I believe the freedom movement in Kashmir will gain momentum,” he had added.

“There are several resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on this and they have accepted this as a disputed territory… Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee had accepted this as a disputed territory,” the FM had said.

Qureshi had said the move by India showed they no longer had any hope from Kashmiris. “Those Kashmiris who had voted for them in the past have also announced their separation from them.”

The foreign minister had noted that Pakistan like before would continue to support the Kashmiri people and history would prove India’s decision wrong.

Prior to that, as tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi had escalated on Sunday and reports of former politicians from occupied Kashmir being put under house arrest had emerged, FM Qureshi had asked the OIC Secretary-General Dr Yousuf Ahmed Al-Othaimeen to take immediate notice.

In a telephonic conversation with Dr al-Othaimeen, he had condemned India's use of brute force on unarmed Kashmiri civilians and said it was violating international laws by carrying out atrocities against the Kashmiris.

Qureshi had further said the orders issued by the Indian government to Hindu Yatrees and tourists to leave Kashmir were also generating anxiety and fear in the region.

The OIC boss had assured the foreign minister of his full cooperation in mitigating the situation.