Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday said that his country will hold protests against ‘the unilateral steps of India’ on Friday, to abrogate Article 370 that gave a special status to J&K, and express solidarity with ‘Kashmiri brethren’.
Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, chaired by National Assembly Speaker Fakhar Imam, the minister said the protest will be held each Friday on 12 pm across Pakistan on the suggestion of Parliament, Radio Pakistan has reported.
Appreciating the joint session of the parliament and a unanimous resolution on Kashmir, the foreign minister said it showed all parties across the spectrum are united in opposing the ‘illegal steps’ of India.
During his televised address to the countrymen earlier this week, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced that an event will be held every week to show solidarity with the Kashmiri people, starting with Friday (August 30) between 12 pm and 12:30 pm (local time).
“They (India) have played their trump card. They don’t have any card to play now. Now whatever needs to be done will be done by us and the world,” he had said.
Khan’s remarks came shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of G7 summit in France on Monday, reiterated that Kashmir is an internal matter of India, and New Delhi and Islamabad can resolve their issues bilaterally.
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Pakistan’s foreign minister Qureshi also noted that he wrote letters on 1st, 6th and 13th of this month to the United Nations to apprise the world body of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, referring to the diplomatic efforts to internationalise the Kashmir situation.
He also said that the recently held discussion on Kashmir at the UN Security Council was a great achievement of Pakistan, which was held despite India’s hectic efforts to stop it.
Pakistan has been rattled by the Indian government’s move to strip the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and has found itself completely isolated despite desperate attempts aimed at internationalising the issue.
However, Islamabad has been snubbed on all fronts as the international community has made it clear that the Kashmir issue is strictly New Delhi’s internal matter.
Qureshi also stressed that a large demonstration will be held in London on the third of next month to draw world attention towards the plight of innocent Kashmiris.
He said the services of the world’s best lawyers are being sought to devise a course of action that could strengthen Pakistan’s case on Kashmir in the Hague-based International Court of Justice.
Pakistan, which is finding it hard to uphold its struggling economy, is now looking forward to raising the issue during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next month.