Pak FM briefs Mirwaiz about efforts to highlight rights abuse in Kashmir

Islamabad, Jan 29: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday rang up Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and briefed him about the efforts being made by his country to highlight human rights violations in Kashmir.

According to a statement issued by Pakistan Foreign Office, Qureshi briefed Mirwaiz on the efforts of the government of Pakistan to highlight the “gross human rights violations being perpetrated by the Indian forces in Jammu and Kashmir.”

“In this context, he mentioned the June 2018, Report issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the APPKG report of the UK Parliament,” the statement said.

Qureshi also emphasized that India should permit the visit of the Commission of Inquiry, as envisaged in both the reports.

“The Foreign Minister also informed Mirwaiz Umar Farooq of the upcoming events, being organized in London at the House of Commons and the exhibition being held in London on 4-5 February 2019respectively,” it said.

The statement said these, again, are efforts to highlight the centrality of Jammu and Kashmir dispute and the “grave human rights violations against the Kashmiri people, by India, which are being widely condemned and need to be immediately stopped.”

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, it said, greatly appreciated the efforts of the Government of Pakistan. He emphasised that the “Indian atrocities shall never be able to suppress the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who will continue to raise their voice against severe Indian repression and in the face of Indian black laws.”

Mirwaiz informed Qureshi that he would have wanted to be present for the London events, but his “passport and those of his contemporaries, had been confiscated by the government of India, to prevent them from travelling abroad.”