FM asks India to stop human right violations in IOK

• Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday asked India to stop human right violations and use of pellet guns against unarmed people in the occupied Kashmir.
• The Kashmiri people must be given right of self-determination and curfew must be lifted with an end to the communication lockdown of the IOK.

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday asked India to stop human right violations and use of pellet guns against unarmed people in the occupied Kashmir.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of three-day 780th Urs of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya here, he said the media should be allowed to visit the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) to expose the ground situation there.

The Kashmiri people must be given right of self-determination and curfew must be lifted with an end to the communication lockdown of the IOK, he added.

The minister said no worship place of any religion had been closed anywhere in the world, but mosques in the IOK were shut down by the Indian forces.

He said the Kashmiri Muslims should be allowed to offer prayers in the mosques. Due to the clampdown in place for 62 days, the people were dying in homes as they were unable to reach hospitals for treatment, he added.

Qureshi said Prime Minister Imran Khan's speech in the United Nations General Assembly gave a hope to the people of held Kashmir as the issue was discussed by the world body after 54 years.

He said US Senator Chris Van Hollen had visited Pakistan, including Azad Jmmau and Kashmir, but he was not given permission to visit the IOK by the Indian government.

He lauded Senator Hollen for writing a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wherein he demanded for lifting curfew from the IOK immediately.

Anyone from the United States, the United Kingdom or the Europe, who wanted to visit any part of Pakistan, including Azad Kashmir, would be welcomed, he added.

He asked Senator Hollen to inform US President Donald Trump about the situation on both sides of the Line of Control.

"How election in the IOK is possible during curfew?" he questioned.

Qureshi lauded the people from across the country, particularly from Balochistan, Sindh and Azad Kashmir,  for attending the Urs celebrations.

He prayed for the country's sovereignty, stability and unity.

He prayed that the Almighty might bring peace in the held Kashmir and lessen the sufferings of its people.