NA panel proposes restoration of Pak, India High Commissions in capitals

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs recommended that Pakistan and India should restore High Commissioners in each other’s capital.

The meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs presided by its chairman Mohsin Dawar was briefed by Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed on the foreign minister’s recent visit to India.

It was underscored that the foreign minister’s participation in the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers reaffirmed the relevance of the SCO and the importance that Pakistan attaches to regional peace, security, economic prosperity and connectivity.

The committee was informed that the member states do not bring bilateral relations on SCO platform.

In order to respond to the insinuating remarks of Indian foreign minister over cross border terrorism, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in his statement, condemned the “unilateral and illegal measures by States in violation of international law and Security Council resolutions”, which run counter to the SCO objectives, briefed the foreign secretary to the committee.

The foreign minister was also successful in bringing home Pakistan’s narrative on terrorism by highlighting Pakistan’s successful fight against terrorism and “the sacrifices of our people and armed forces,” he added.

Alluding to the current political dispensation in India, the foreign minister emphasized collective action to fight against “fascism, and historical revisionism that leads to violent ultranationalism as well as to ensure that racism and xenophobic ideologies, have no place in today’s world, said the Foreign Ministry officials.

It was highlighted that Pakistan’s case was not so forcefully presented on the Indian soil since 2012. It was added that dispute over Kashmir has legal and moral dimensions and that Pakistan has successfully conveyed the parallels between Kashmir and Ukraine in terms of applicability of the international law.

Referring to the G-20 summit in Indian Occupied Kashmir, the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained that such summits may not lay legitimize the illegal and unilateral annexation of the occupied territories.

Referring to the statement of the UN Special Rapporteurs regarding violation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir, the officials maintained that Pakistan had successfully altered the perceptions of internationally community regarding Kashmir issue.

The chairman committee Mohsin Dawar remarked that the parliament has ceded space to non-elected officials on policies pertaining to India and Afghanistan and underscored greater role for the representative institutions in foreign policy. At the outset of the meeting, one of the members raised concerns as to why the United States Congressmen lent support to a political party in Pakistan that has supported mob attacks in Pakistan. She stated that such support ran contrary to the spirit of democracy where rule of law, rights of individuals and social justice prevail and where stronger democracies support fragile democracies. The meeting turned into in-camera on the issue of a Pakistani blogger who has taken political asylum in Netherlands.