Illegal actions of Aug 5, 2019: Bilawal says India vitiated atmosphere

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has categorically stated that India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August, 2019 had vitiated the atmosphere and shut the door for dialogue.

He was talking to a 10-member delegation of the Azad Kashmir chapter of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) led by APHC Convener Mehmood Ahmed Saghar here Saturday.

The minister said India would have to go back to the drawing board of August 4, 2019 for any meaningful bilateral engagement.

The meeting with APHC’s AJK chapter took place at a time when the entire pro-freedom leadership in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) remained incarcerated.

The delegation briefed the Foreign Minister on the situation in the occupied territory with particular reference to the ongoing human rights violations, efforts for demographic change and attempts at political engineering.

The delegation expressed great appreciation for the Foreign Minister’s unequivocal stance on Jammu and Kashmir during his recent visit to India.

Terming them an effort to further consolidate India’s control over the territory, the delegation rejected the plans to hold different G-20 meetings in IIOJK, under India’s ongoing presidency of the grouping.

The Foreign Minister informed the delegation that his recent visit to India took place in the context of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as Pakistan attached great importance to that regional organization.

However, in the run up to the visit, Pakistan had made it clear that no bilateral meeting was on cards, he added.

Recalling that Pakistan’s official position on Jammu and Kashmir dispute had been consistent over decades, the Foreign Minister assured the delegation that the government would leave no stone unturned to support the Kashmir cause.

Saluting the sacrifices and courage of the Kashmiri people, the minister stressed that their fundamental rights and freedoms, including their inalienable right to self-determination, must be granted.

He reaffirmed Pakistan’s continued moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people’s just struggle.