Rights abuses in IoK can result into worst tragedy, warns FM Qureshi

MULTAN - Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Sunday said grave human rights violations were being committed by occupation forces in the Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK), which could turn into a worst tragedy.

Talking to journalists before attending a "Kashmir Bane Ga Pakistan" rally here, Qureshi said the Indian atrocities on the people of held valley were increasing with each passing day. The international community should pay special attention to resolve the Kashmir issue, he added.

He said the Indian government had not allowed opposition leader Rahul Gandhi to visit Kashmir and sent him back to New Delhi from Srinager.

He said he himself had contacted the United Nations Human Rights Commission and the UN secretary general and apprised them about the critical situation in IoK.

The held valley had been under round the clock curfew for the last 21 days and with shortage of medicines and food, the situation for the people of Kashmir had become critical, he added.

The minister said India had tried to make Kashmir as its internal matter but it had been exposed by Pakistan through intensive foreign diplomacy. The Islamic countries were already in support of Pakistan on the issue while Iran, Turkey and Malaysia had also raised their voice for the Kashmiri people, he added.

He said the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should play its role and help stop Indian brutalities on the innocent people of Kashmir. There were reports that India was planning to send extremists of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to Jammu and Kashmir and the international community to take notice of that, he added.

Qureshi said he would participate in a meeting about human rights to be held in Geneva on September 9 and inform the world about the situation in the occupied valley.

Kashmir was internationally recognized as a disputed territory and India was violating resolutions of the United Nations, he said.

He urged the human rights organizations to visit IoK, inspect the ground situation there and then inform the world about it.

To a question, he said the United Nations should send its delegations to Kashmir and play its role in lifting curfew. He would soon met the United Arab

Emirates foreign minister and inform him about actual situation in IoK. He said the United States a was ready to play a role of mediator on the Kashmir issue but India had refused.

He lauded the local media for organizing a rally in Azad Kashmir for condemning the torture on Indian journalists at Srinagar airport.

He questioned If there was normal situation in IoK then why the Indian opposition leaders were not been allowed to visit the valley. If there were no human rights violations in the IoK then why the hurdles were being created, Qureshi added quoting Indian leader Ghulam Nabi Azaad.

He hoped that the Islamic countries would extend their support to Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.

Addressing a public meeting regarding Kashmir, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the voice of Kashmiris could not be suppressed and their sacrifices would bear fruits.