Saarc Council of Ministers meeting: Qureshi boycotts Indian FM’s speech at UN

NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday boycotted the speech of Indian Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the meeting of Saarc Council of Ministers.

"It is not possible for me to sit with the murderer of Kashmiris," he told reporters after boycotting the speech.

The spokesperson to the foreign minister had earlier announced that Qureshi had subjected his presence in the meeting during the speech to the lifting of curfew in Indian-Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

"Pakistan will not engage with the 'Butcher of Kashmir' until and unless they (India) lift the siege and put an end to atrocities in occupied Kashmir," a statement issued by the spokesperson said.

"They must safeguard the human rights of every Kashmiri and ensure they are protected and not violated and trampled upon." On August 5, the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stripped Kashmiris of the constitutional rights they had for seven decades through a rushed presidential order. Since then, an indefinite curfew has been in place in occupied Kashmir while elected leaders are still under house arrest.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will take up at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday the issue of the unilateral annexation and brutalities by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir.

Foreign Minister Qureshi earlier in the day held a meeting with Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir and discussed the situation in occupied Kashmir as well as the prevailing threats to peace and security in the region. During the meeting on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UNGA, the foreign minister thanked his Saudi counterpart for hosting a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Contact Group on Kashmir.

The foreign minister said, “Holding the emergency meeting in Makkah and raising voice for the Kashmiri people was a timely measure in the backdrop of India’s unilateral step of August 5 of annexation,” he said, adding that the meeting drew attention of the international community towards the issue.