New York    -   Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday boycotted the speech of his Indian counterpart at the meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) being held on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a statement, Qureshi said he walked out from the ministerial conference of the SAARC - regional intergovernmental organisation and geopolitical union of states in South Asia - in protest against India’s scrapping of special rights of disputed Jammu Kashmir region, and a consistent clampdown there.

“India has to ensure the fundamental human rights of Kashmiris. There will be no talks until India lifts the curfew and stop human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir,” Qureshi said.

Qureshi boycotted S Jaishankar’s opening statement at the meeting of the SAARC Council of Foreign Ministers in New York, saying his country will not engage with India “until and unless” it lifts the “siege” in Kashmir.

Qureshi “refuses to attend Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s statement at the meeting of SAARC Council of Ministers,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf tweeted. Pakistan will not engage with India “until and unless they lift the siege” in Kashmir, it said.

“They must safeguard human rights of Kashmiris, ensure they are protected and not violated or trampled upon,” it added.