‘India’s objections to Pakistan’s new map played down in SCO meeting’

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on National Security Moeed Yusuf said Tuesday that India had raised its concerns in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) national security advisers’ meeting on Pakistan's new political map and demanded that it not be displayed during his speech.

Speaking to Geo News, Moeed Yusuf said that Pakistan had responded in writing to India’s objections, making it clear that the map was the country’s right and that it was according to the United Nations’ laws on Kashmir.

Moeed Yusuf said that Russia backed Pakistan's stance and none of the countries participating in the conference objected to it. Moeed Yusuf was representing Pakistan in the conference, a week after Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had represented Pakistan in the organisation's foreign ministers' meeting.

"My Indian counterpart (Ajit Doval) had boycotted Pakistan's speech during the meeting," he said, adding that Doval also attended the Russian adviser's speech for nearly five minutes. “Keeping in mind the United Nations' principles, we presented our point of view and raised the issue of Kashmir,” he said.

"We stressed that Pakistan wishes to give a corridor to the world and believes in connectivity," said Moeed Yusuf. The PM's adviser, earlier in a series of tweets, said that he was honoured to represent Pakistan at the SCO NSAs dialogue.

"I highlighted Pakistan’s continued commitment to peace in the region. Pakistan is committed to working with SCO member states to achieve peace and stability, economic security, and connectivity," he said.

He highlighted that unilateral and illegal actions in an internationally recognised disputed territory of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) were a threat to regional peace and prosperity.

"I also apprised counterparts of Pakistan's deep commitment to peace in Afghanistan through an Afghan-led and owned peace process," he said. Speaking on Afghanistan's peace process, he said that a peaceful and stable Kabul was important for peace, stability, and connectivity in the region and beyond.

“Pakistan has long held that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and that a negotiated political settlement is the only way forward,” he said. Afghan stakeholders should seize this historic opportunity and work together to secure an inclusive, broad-based, and comprehensive political settlement, he said.

Moeed Yusuf assured that Pakistan would continue to play the role of a facilitator in the peace process and that the Afghan alone have the authority to decide on the future of their country. “No outside actor should be seen as the guarantor of peace in that country. The process must be Afghan-owned and Afghan-led,” he stressed.