Pulwama attack: Pakistan launches diplomatic offensive to sensitise world community

Pakistan launched diplomatic offensive to sensitise international community with regard to India's warmongerings in the wake of Pulwama attack based on baseless allegations against Pakistan. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, according to Foreign Office, wrote a letter to President of the UN Security Council and Permanent Representative of Equatorial Guinea, United Nations, Anatolio Ndong Mba to draw his attention towards gravity of regional security situation created by threats of use of force by India against Pakistan.
"It is with a sense of urgency that I draw your attention to the deteriorating security situation in our region resulting from Indian belligerence and threats of use of force against Pakistan. The situation poses a threat to international peace and security," Qureshi wrote.
He stated that after an attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama district of the Indian Occupied Kashmir (LOK) on 14 February 2019, within moments of the attack, without holding an investigation or providing any proof, India began accusing Pakistan and started threatening retributive action. The entire basis of India's unfounded allegations was a social media video of completely suspect content, he added.
"It is clear that India is making the attempt to present its fallacious assumptions as established facts, seek to cover up its own operational and policy failures, and shift the blame to Pakistan," Qureshi said.
Simultaneously, for domestic political reasons, India has deliberately ratcheted up hostile rhetoric against Pakistan and created a tense environment, he stated, adding that the Prime Minister of India, in several public statements, stoked passions and threatened a "befitting response."
Among other things, Qureshi wrote that the Indian Prime Minister said: "...(T)here is a lot of anger, people's blood is boiling...The next steps will be taken by our armed forces. What should be the time, what should be the place and what should be the form, they have been authorised to take all the decisions."
Separately, senior members of the Indian government are threatening to use water as a weapon, the foreign minister stated, adding that the longstanding legal arrangements agreed under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) are thus being imperiled.
For its part, he stated that the government of Pakistan has strongly rejected Indian allegations of involvement in the Pulwama attack, without any investigation or provision of evidence.
"Pakistan has offered its cooperation, if tangible evidence emerging from credible investigation is shared," Qureshi stated, adding that the Prime Minister of Pakistan has also announced Pakistan's readiness to for talks with India on the issue of terrorism along with other disputed issues. Pakistan has also reaffirmed its resolve to defend itself against any act of aggression by India, he further informed the president of the UNSC.
"The frenzy created by the Indian government has resulted in reprisal attacks against Kashmiris in IOK and in several states of India," he said, adding that it is a matter of record that the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir are being punished because they are demanding their inalienable right of self-determination - pledged to them by India, Pakistan and the international community.
He stated that the UN Security council resolutions on the Kashmir dispute stipulate the holding of a democratic and impartial plebiscite to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine their own future.
While persisting with brutal use of force to keep the Kashmiri people under illegal occupation and deny them their fundamental rights, Qureshi stated that India continaes a motivated propaganda campaign to portray the legitimate Kashmiri struggle for self-determination as "terrorism."
"This is a travesty that should not be allowed to mislead the world. The legitimacy of the Kashmiri struggle and the reality of their untold sufferings of the Kashmiri people are self-evident," he further stated.
He stated that the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir are counting on the international community to take immediate cognizance of their unending plight, initiate steps to bring an urgent halt to the horrendous violations of human rights taking place in IOK, and enable them to exercise their right of self-determination under the relevant UNSC resolutions.
He also underscored the need for the world community to dissuade India from its current warmongering, adding that India must refrain from escalating the situation and enter into dialogue with Pakistan and the Kashmiris to ensure de-escalation and continued peace and stability in South Asia.
Qureshi also attached with his letter a document containing key elements of the Prime Minister's address to the nation on Pulwama attack and a copy of the statement issued after the meeting of the National Security council (NSC). He requested the president of UNSC the letter be circulated among the members of the Security Council and issued as an official document of the United Nations Security Council.
The Foreign Office, earlier, during the week, briefed the Islamabad-based ambassadors of various countries including of the P5 of the UNSC, EU countries and envoys of the African countries to apprise them of the Indian warmongering and the baseless allegations against Pakistan.