New York, Oct 3: Pakistan has said it was regrettable that instead of responding to its goodwill gesture, India is “interfering” in its internal matters and accused it of supporting terrorism.
Pakistan Prime Minister’s National Security and Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz said that Kashmir was among the oldest unresolved international disputes at the UN forum.
Speaking at the Annual Coordination Meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Foreign Ministers here yesterday, he also accused Indian security forces of human rights violations and ceasefire violations.
He asked the OIC member states to impress upon India to end its alleged repression of Kashmiris and to come to the negotiating table for peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues including the Kashmir, according to a press release.
He “regretted that instead of responding to Pakistans gesture of goodwill, the Indian side was not only interfering in Pakistan’s internal matters but was also supporting terrorism inside Pakistan,” the release said.
Aziz also said the denial of right of self-determination to Kashmiri people continued to stain the collective conscience of the international community. “He clarified that elections held under foreign occupation could not be a substitute to the exercise of right to self-determination under a UN plebiscite,” the release said.
The meeting, convened on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, was chaired by Foreign Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and attended by Foreign Ministers of OIC member states.
The meeting also adopted reports of the various OIC Contact Groups, including the one on Jammu & Kashmir which reaffirmed the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people in accordance with UNSC resolutions, the release added.
A diplomatic back and forth ensued between India and Pakistan at the UN following Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs address to the General Assembly in which he had proposed a new four-point peace initiative to India, including demilitarization of Kashmir and “unconditional mutual withdrawal” from Siachen Glacier.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, in her address to the world body, said India does not need four points but only one that Pakistan should give up terror and come to the negotiating table for talks.
Both countries exercised the Right of Reply to respond to each other’s leaders’ statements with India saying that terrorism in Pakistan is a “home grown” problem that has “begun to bite the hand that fed it.”
PTI