Home »Top Stories » Rights’ violation by India in held Kashmir: Pakistan to take up issue with UN Council: Sartaj

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  • Oct 28th, 2014
  • Comments Off on Rights’ violation by India in held Kashmir: Pakistan to take up issue with UN Council: Sartaj
Pakistan is going to take up human rights violations committed by India in occupied Kashmir with United Nations Human Rights Council, said Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz. In a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs chaired by Senator Haji Adeel, Aziz stated that Pakistani forces were fully capable of responding to any Indian aggression.

He said that Pakistan would be supported by other countries like China in the UN Human Right Council against India. He further stated that India was trying to give an impression that Kashmir was a bilateral dispute and Pakistan was trying to dispel this impression. "We want resolution of Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN resolutions," he said, adding that Pakistan is also striving that the role of UN Military Observers Group at Line of Control (LoC) should be further enhanced. "About article 370 of India constitution, he stated: "India can't take any step that would lead to change in Kashmir's status. We reviewed the situation and discussed in details the available options but would not disclose them before hand," Aziz told the committee. The advisor said that if not resolved Kashmir issue would continue to pose a threat to regional peace and Pakistan was trying to highlight Kashmiris' struggle for self-determination.

He said that India was also making efforts to change the demography of Kashmir. He also informed the committee about his recent visit to Afghanistan and stated that he held meetings with the newly-elected Afghan leadership, who expressed strong desire to have good relations with Pakistan.

Aziz said that both sides were devising a mechanism to deal with some border issues and agreed to remain in touch on regular basis. The Advisor said that Afghan President and Finance Minister would visit Pakistan. Sartaj Aziz told the committee that Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would be visiting Tehran to discuss the clause of force majeure with respect to per day penalty regarding Iran Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline.

He regretted that the project signed in 2009 was scheduled to be implemented in two years, but was not implemented. The failure to implement the project created serious gas shortage for industry. He said that Pakistan was committed to the IP gas pipeline project but investors were not ready to make investment in the project due to US sanctions on Iran. Sartaj Aziz said that overall relations between Pakistan and Iran were better except some local issues at border level. Senator Raja Zafarul Haq and other members of the committee underlined the need for making concrete efforts to raise Kashmir issue at international forum. He said that there was a need to educate the people at home and abroad that the Kashmir dispute was not a bilateral issue between Pakistan and India as being claimed by some quarters in the context of Shimla agreement. Pakistan has not accepted in Shimla agreement that Kashmir issue was a bilateral dispute between Pakistan and India.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2014


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