Pakistan to reinforce efforts to highlight Kashmir cause globally

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday chaired a meeting of the Kashmir Core Group wherein it was agreed that Pakistan's efforts for the Kashmir cause needed to be reinforced.

The meeting's participants — including Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Law and Justice Minister Farogh Naseem, Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir chairperson, PM's Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and the attorney general of Pakistan — agreed on measures to further cement Pakistan’s political, diplomatic, legal, and media efforts to highlight the Kashmir cause around the world.

The primary focus was to ponder the country's extensive political and diplomatic outreach and efforts to raise awareness internationally about the dire human rights conditions in Indian occupied Kashmir, as well as the serious risks for peace and security posed by India’s illegal move on August 5, 2019.

Participants strongly condemned India's atrocities in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region, the continued lockdown of millions of Kashmiris, communication blackout, and the curfew since August 5, 2019. The meeting reaffirmed Pakistan’s abiding solidarity with the Kashmiri folks in siege.

Global recognition of the horrifying conditions in occupied Kashmir was analysed as were the calls — made by United Nations Security Council (UNSC), human rights organisations, and international media — to India to immediately lift the curfew and alleviate the Kashmiri people's sufferings.

The Kashmir Core Group also agreed upon the measures to enable the people living in occupied Kashmir to realise their right to self-determination and reiterated Pakistan's support to those trapped in the valley.