DPM calls for grant of right to self-determination to people of Kashmir

ISLAMABAD, Feb 21 (APP): Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar Friday said people of Jammu and Kashmir should be given the right to self-determination according to the United Nations Security Council resolutions pending for the last many decades.
In an interview with TRT World television, he said India could not change the demographics of Jammu and Kashmir by bringing in settlers.
He said India took illegal and unilateral actions about Kashmir in 2019 contrary to the UN charter and decades old resolutions of the Security Council.
The right to self-determination of people of Kashmir and Palestine should be respected, he asserted.
He said Pakistan and Turkiye had very close brotherly relations for decades and leadership of the two countries always coordinated on issues of importance.
Recently both sides held the 7th High Level Strategic Council meeting co-chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he said adding security and global challenges were discussed threadbare during the delegation level talks and dozens of memorandums of understanding were signed.
The foreign ministers of the two countries would monitor the work of the 11 joint groups formed by the council in different areas and would report to the leadership for further consideration.
Pakistan and Turkiye had very close cooperation in areas of trade, investment, defence, security, regional issues and anti-terrorism, he said adding both countries would be jointly building naval ships as part of their cooperation in the defence sector.
He said the bilateral trade of the two countries was about one billion dollars and they had decided to increase trade volume to five billion dollars in the next five years.
Talking about his recent participation in the meeting of the United Nations Security Council, he said the UNSC needed reforms because it was observed that the resolutions of the UNSC and General Assembly on Jammu and Kashmir and Palestine were not implemented for decades.
He noted that the world order and the multilateral institutions had been weakening.
He informed that during his remarks at the UNSC meeting he discussed the issues of Gaza, Kashmir and weakening of multilateral institutions
Pakistan was ready to support the reforms agenda at the United Nations to make multilateral institutions more strong, effective and forceful so that peace, security and development in the world could be pursued, he remarked.
The DPM said Pakistan was watching very closely the situation in Gaza for the last 18 months and it had opposed the forced migration of Palestinians in Gaza to Egypt and Jordan.
He said he talked to the foreign ministers of different Muslim countries and it was agreed that an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of Organization of Islamic Cooperation would be held in Jeddah on March 7.
Pakistan had taken a clear stand that the ceasefire in Gaza should be perpetual , the humanitarian aid should be allowed in Gaza unimpeded and the damaged infrastructure should be reconstructed, he continued.
The Deputy Prime Minister said Palestinians have the right to stay in their homeland and Pakistan always supported the full membership of Palestine in the United Nations General Assembly.
There should be a two state solution and Palestine should be an independent sovereign state with pre-1967 borders and with Al Quds Sharif as its capital, he stressed.
He lamented that the multilateral institutions failed to stop aggression in Gaza which was destroyed and 50000 Gazans were martyred and 100,000 got injured.
He stated that every sovereign country must be respected by all others and no soil should allowed to be used for terrorist activities against any other country.
“Pakistan’s stand has very been candid and clear and prime minister Shehbaz Sharif also gave a categorical statement in the UN General Assembly session. Pakistan wants mutual respect for the sovereignty, independence and integrity of every country.”
To a question, he said Iran was a responsible country and there should be no presumptions about their nuclear programme.
Responding to a question, he said Pakistan would retaliate to an attack from any neighbouring country as it had done so on two occasions.
He said terrorists of Fitna Al-Khawarij were based in border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“We are well wishers of Afghanistan and wished them prosperity. However, we wanted assurance from the Afghan authorities that their soil will be not used against Pakistan.”
Pakistan shared common religion, culture and history with Afghanistan and would continue to give all assistance to the land-locked country, he added.
Talking about Afghan refugees, he said different countries decided to take in Afghan refugees living in Pakistan tentatively by the month of September.
“If it does not happen the refugees will be illegal for Pakistan which may be forced to send them back.”
Ishaq Dar said Pakistan suffered losses of $150 billion in the war against terrorism and more than three million Afghan refugees were a burden for the country.
He was of the view that the United States during its withdrawal from Afghanistan should not have left weapons and ammunition which came in access of terrorist outfits.
He said Pakistan was raising voice against Islamophobia at every forum, adding the OIC secretary general appointed a permanent representative on Islamophobia who had been voicing the issue at all forums.
A special day would be observed in the UN General Assembly on March 15 on the issue of Islamophobia, he concluded.