FO rubbishes insinuations about FM’s remarks on G20 moot in IIOJ&K

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Sunday said that any insinuation, associating Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s remarks over the G-20 meeting in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) with a threat of violence was not only mischievous but also highly irresponsible.

“It is an attempt to shift focus from the foreign minister’s key message of conflict resolution through dialogue and in accordance with international law and UN Security Council resolutions,” the FO spokesperson said in a press statement in response to media queries regarding a video clip insinuating that FM Bilawal threatened India over the conduct of a G-20 meeting in IIOJ&K.

“In a number of public pronouncements during his recent visit to India, the foreign minister emphasised the critical importance of relevant UN Security Council resolutions for a peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. “Clearly, he based his case on international law,” the FO reiterated.

The spokesperson further stressed that journalistic norms must be respected while reporting on sensitive inter-state matters.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the spokesperson further said, had already articulated Pakistan’s position on the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in the IIOJ&K in its press release on April 11. Pakistan had already expressed its strong indignation over India’s decision to hold the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar on 22-24 May.

Scheduling of two other meetings of a consultative forum on youth affairs (Y-20) in Leh and Srinagar in the IIOJ&K was also termed as “equally disconcerting”.

“India’s irresponsible move is the latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in sheer disregard of the UN Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law. “Pakistan vehemently condemns these moves,” the earlier press release on April 11 maintained. Such events could not hide the reality of Jammu and Kashmir being an internationally recognised dispute that had remained on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council for over seven decades.

“Nor could such activities divert the international community’s attention from India’s brutal suppression of the people of IIOJ&K, including illegal attempts to change the demographic composition of the occupied territory,” it was added.