ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday chaired a consultative meeting of the foreign policy experts to review the security situation of the region in the wake of Indian aggressive designs, situation in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and other issues of national importance.

The meeting, which was attended by seasoned former diplomats, ex-foreign secretaries, foreign policy experts and senior officers of the Foreign Office including Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood, also discussed the economic impacts of the Covid-19, and the prime minister's 'Global Debt Relief Initiative', seeking relief to the developing countries including Pakistan to deal with the global challenge.

Speaking on the occasion, Foreign Minister Qureshi said the debt relief proposal of Prime Minister Imran Khan would help developing countries in coping with economic implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, and to stabilise their economies was gaining global traction.

He said the virus had engulfed the entire world and the impacts of the pandemic on the economies of developing countries such as Pakistan were extremely severe.

He maintained that Prime Minister Imran Khan's debt relief proposal was gaining international acceptance and world powers were giving a positive response.

Referring to Indian aggressive designs and grave situations in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the foreign minister drew the immediate attention of the international community towards Indian dangerous and aggressive designs to disrupt regional peace. He said that Indian ceasefire violations along Line of Control (LoC) and working boundary continue unabated in which innocent citizens were being targeted.

On the other hand, he pointed out that eight million innocent people of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir were facing Indian suppression in the name of curfew for the last 10 months.

After Covid-19 pandemic, he added that the oppressed Kashmiris were facing dual lockdown.

He said Indian step to change the demographic composition of occupied and disputed territories of Jammu and Kashmir through amendments in domicile laws were the gross violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions and international laws. He also apprised the meeting of his letters written to the UN secretary general and president Security Council, informing them of the dangerous Indian designs in the region.

The meeting also discussed key foreign policy issues, including the Afghan peace process and the overall security situation of the region.