Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has invited all his country’s parliamentarians including political leadership of Pakistan-administered Kashmir to attend a seminar on the Kashmir issue at the UK’s House of Commons early next month, a media report said on Monday.
According to a report in The Express Tribune, the invitation was extended as Qureshi met members of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Qureshi, according to the report, said that national unity was essential to bolster Islamabad’s efforts for an effective resolution to the Kashmir issue.
“We all must work together and raise our voices in unison for Kashmiris’ right to self-determination,” he said.
The foreign minister urged the Pakistani and Kashmiri political leadership to attend the seminar in the House of Commons on February 4 and a related exhibition in London on February 5.
“Qureshi and Foreign Secretary TehminaJanjua also briefed the standing committee on the report released by the UK parliament’s all-party parliamentary Kashmir group (APPKG) in October 2018,” The Express Tribune reported.
Addressing the Senate committee members, Qureshi said the reports by the APPKG and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had “revealed the true scale of India’s brutalities in Kashmir”.
According to the report, Qureshi stressed the need to highlight the findings at all international forums and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to support Kashmiris in their struggle for the right of self-determination.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s information minister Fawad Chaudhary said the country is willing to resume peace talks with New Delhi after the 2019 general election.
Speaking to the Gulf News in an interview, Chaudhry termed the current time unfit for talks due to the “ongoing turmoil in Indian politics”.
“We have delayed our efforts to hold talks with India because we do not expect any big decision from the present Indian leadership. It is useless to talk to them (India) now unless there is some stability. We will move forward once the new government is formed after the elections,” he said.
Asked which Indian leader will suit Pakistan more when it comes to peace talks—NarendraModi or Rahul Gandhi—Chaudhry said that it does not matter for Islamabad.
“We will respect any Indian leader and the party elected by the Indian people. And we would like to move forward to hold a dialogue with whosoever comes into power in India”. Agencies