‘No change in Pak policy on IOK’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Friday made it clear that it firmly stood by its historic position on the Kashmir issue and there was not even a modicum of change in it.

“I would stress that no change in our policy can be brought about in this regard. The Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains the cornerstone of the foreign policy of Pakistan,” said the Foreign Office spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal during a weekly press briefing here.

In this regard, he pointed out the extreme steps that India was taking to try to muffle the voice of Kashmiris and to illegally claim the IOJ&K.

“The Indian attempts to change the status of IOJ&K will fail miserably, as they have failed in the past. There can be no resolution of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute without taking into account the wishes of Kashmiri people in line with the UNSC resolutions,” he said.

He pointed to over 8 million people in the IOJ&K who remain cut off from the world, with continued concerns being raised about lack of medical supplies and other basic needs.

“The Indian government should immediately restore the internet and mobile phone services, release all prisoners, especially civil society members and the abducted young children, remove the Public Safety Act and other draconian laws, and allow the independent media and international human rights observers to visit the region to independently observe the situation of Kashmiri people,” he added.

Faisal urged the international community, the United Nations and other human rights organisations to take notice of brutal suppression of religious rights and freedom of people in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) in utter violation of international laws and conventions.

To a question about the convicted Indian RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, he said the step made in that regard will be made public soon. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit Switzerland and Malaysia this month where he is first scheduled to reconvene the first-ever Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in December in Geneva, which is being organized in recognition of Pakistan’s generosity, hospitality and compassion in hosting the Afghan refugees for over 40 years.