Bilawal pays tribute to China, KSA, Turkiye for boycotting G20 meet in IIOJ&K

MUZAFFARABAD/BAGH: Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the entire world is seeing the drama that Modi is orchestrating in India’s Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) while the representatives of Pakistan are expressing solidarity with their Kashmiri brethren the very same day.

He also saluted Chinese, Saudi and Turkish brethren among other countries who refused Modi and G20’s invitation for the sake of Kashmiri people.

Bilawal was addressing a public gathering in Bagh, Azad Kashmir, to protest India’s violations of international law and the UN resolutions by holding the G20 meeting in IIOJ&K.

Chairman FM Bilawal thanked the representatives of the provinces and the Federation for attending the gathering, including representatives of the MQM, JUI and JUP-Noorani.

He said that this was his first visit to Bagh as the foreign minister of Pakistan and he was representing each citizen and party of the country. He said that in every international interaction, Kashmir remains his priority. “Not only do I represent Pakistan as its foreign minister, but also Azad Kashmir and occupied Kashmir,” the PPP chairman said.

“Despite the temporary internal issues that Pakistan is faced with, our fraternal relationship with Kashmir is generational. Quaid-e-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had promised to struggle for a thousand years for the sake of Kashmir. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had strived for her Kashmiri brothers to have a UN observer status.”

Bilawal said that when he visits the United Nations or any international forum, he always stresses how the issue is not limited to Pakistan and India but the Kashmiri people and the international world. “When I talk of the rights given to the Kashmiri people by the UN, Indian representatives label us ‘terrorists’ in response. When we talk of the Kashmiri people and their rights, they accuse us of representing terrorists. How can they accuse us of engaging in terrorism when we ourselves are the victims. They label me, the son of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, a terrorist when I call a ‘butcher’ by his name,” Bilawal said.

He said that India has developed a habit of receiving demure responses. “The real faces of those who labelled us extremists and terrorists have been revealed before the world. They put a price on the head of the foreign minister of Pakistan. Owing to the struggle of the Kashmiri people, the world has started accepting the real face of India. We have not let the world forget Kashmir any opportunity we get. When we were presiding over the sessions of the G77 or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, we were doing so to raise the issue of your right to a plebiscite. The OIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting concluded with the address of the President of Azad Kashmir.”

Bilawal said: “Recently, it was decided that we attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s conference in Goa despite not resuming dialogue with India since August 2019. The decision was made with the foresight not to let India enjoy an open pitch and to present the case of Pakistan in India, before its representatives. We interacted with the Indian media and its people to advocate for peace. We conducted ourselves in a manner that complied with the SCO’s rules and regulations to portray the real image of Pakistanis, Kashmiris and Muslims, who are not terrorists. It is not our problem that India is governed by a political party that is religiously motivated and Islamophobic. If there are terrorists, they are the ones who spread terror in Gujrat and over the Samjhauta Express. Who are they to hold a tourism workshop in Srinagar? The Kashmiri people should be the ones enjoying the fruits of their labour, not Delhi.

“When half of the Occupied Kashmir is imprisoned, and there are 900,000 soldiers, what kind of tourism are they trying to promote. The Kashmiri people should not be deceived. If there is any obstacle in resolving the Kashmir conflict, preventing terrorism and allowing for the economic prosperity of the region, it is the Modi rule.”

Bialwal said: “We are grateful to all the nations that have adopted a principled stance as per the resolutions of the UN and international laws. They decided against attending this tourism conference. On my visit to India for the SCO meeting, we had said that they would receive fewer guests than expected. We would like to salute our Chinese, Saudi and Turkish brethren including all other countries who refused Modi and G20’s invitation for the sake of the Kashmiri people.”

He said the countries that did attend either downgraded their participation or are present in the protest. “You can take any international publication and see whether their [Indian] aim to portray Kashmir as a normalised region has been achieved. How can they send a message of normalisation when thousands of their soldiers are still in Kashmir?”