Mission Kashmir to continue: PM

| Says dossiers to be sent to P5 heads | Iran considers Chabahar a complimentary port of Gwadar

NEW YORK - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed total satisfaction at the outcome of his visit to address the UN General Assembly’s annual session, but said his government won’t just relax on the success of his ‘Mission Kashmir’ achieved during his address and interaction with the world leaders on the sidelines.

He said hectic diplomatic activity would be undertaken including sending dossiers to the heads of five permanent members of the Security Council, reminding them to help implement the resolutions passed by this world forum more than six decades ago.

“It is their duty to fulfil the promises made to the Kashmiri nation in regards to their right of self-determination. If they fail to do so, it would tantamount to undermine the authority of the Council”, he argued.

The prime minister said he has raised the issue of Indian crimes against Kashmiri people with every leader that he met - including US Secretary of State John Kerry, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Saudi Crown Prince Prince Naif, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

He said it was now the responsibility of the global community that it took notice of Indian actions in occupied land of Kashmiris.

India has ruthlessly killed 108 people in just two and a half months while hundreds have been injured by use of brute force. “India, on its own, should realise what it was doing there. How long New Delhi thinks the Kashmiris would remain silent?”

The UN Secretary General, OIC Contact Group on Kashmir and Turkey have assured Pakistan that they would be dispatching fact-finding missions to Kashmir for determining the extent to which Kashmiri people were being subject to unprecedented use of brute force by India’s over 700,000 troops amid reports that New Delhi is deploying even more soldiers there.

PM Sharif said it would not be possible for India to hoodwink the global community. He pointed out that in less than 10 hours Pakistan was blamed for Sopore incident.

“It takes at least a week to establish facts of such happening. We would inform the world of Indian attitude to shift blame on Pakistan. It was done in the past but Indian lies were exposed,” he added, in an apparent reference to Pathankot incident that too was promptly blamed on Pakistan but latter India’s own Joint Investigation Report declared that Pakistan had nothing to do with it.

“We would reach out to the world leadership and remove all misunderstanding about our position on Kashmir as well as our desire to have peaceful relations with our South Asian neighbour.”

Replying to a question, the prime minister said that Iranian president Hassan Rouhani termed CPEC as a very positive development and shunned the impression that Iran, India and Afghanistan were cooperating to build a counter front against Pakistan. He added that Iranian leader said Chabahar was a complimentary port and there was no question of any competition.

The Premier then asked Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry to further explain the situation regarding CPEC, and Aizaz said “this is a project about which countries of the region including Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran and all Central Asian Republics were happy because it would provide a shorter route for trade with China. As far as Chabahar is concerned, it has been made sister port with Gwadar through a Memorandum of Understand signed with Iran”.

Replying to a question regarding Afghanistan situation, the foreign secretary said Pakistan’s role for peace and stability in Afghanistan was being appreciated across the world because peace in war-torn country was linked with the world pace.

The prime minister replying to a question said he came to the United Nations with three objectives: First, to advance the just cause of Kashmiri struggle and highlighting the Indian atrocities against unarmed innocent Kashmiris rendering unprecedented sacrifices.

Second, to update the world community on Pakistan’s efforts against terrorism as a result of military operation and the National Action Plan.

Third, to tell the world community that energy crisis in Pakistan would be resolved by 2018 as a result of his government’s policies.

“Our successes are being lauded by the world”, he claimed.

The prime minister asked the national media to promote the cause of the Kashmiri people by setting aside India’s negative propaganda because it no longer can fool the world.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt