Modi’s meeting on Kashmir extraordinary: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Monday said the meeting convened by the Modi government on the situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) was an extraordinary development.

Talking to the media here, Qureshi said he was neither the Taliban's spokesperson nor their lawyer. "I am only Pakistan's foreign minister," he said while addressing a news conference here, reports Geo News.

The foreign minister said he had responded as a Pakistani to the Afghan national security advisor’s recent anti-Pakistan response. “The Afghan NSA’s statement did not benefit his country,” the foreign minister said, adding: “Pakistan has always tried to persuade the Taliban to negotiate.” Last week, talking to TRT World during his visit to Antalya, Turkey, the foreign minister had said that one “cannot pass the buck on to Pakistan” for peace and stability in Afghanistan. The foreign minister had said that Pakistan had been engaged constructively for peace and stability in Afghanistan and would continue to do so.

“But this is a shared responsibility. You cannot pass the buck towards Pakistan. Pakistan is one regional player. There are other global players and there are other interests that are paramount in the region,” the foreign minister said. Sabah adds: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Monday said peace in Afghanistan was a shared responsibility of all stakeholders and Pakistan would continue its role to make Afghan peace process successful. Talking to the media in Islamabad, he expressed concerns over speedy withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Qureshi said 60 percent of foreign troops had already been pulled out, adding that Pakistan wanted that withdrawal of the forces and peace process should occur in tandem. Terming Afghanistan a divided house, Qureshi said the Afghan government and Peace Council did not seem focused on their approaches. He said unrest in Afghanistan will adversely impact Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan was already hosting three million refugees and uncertain the situation in Afghanistan will stir a new influx of refugees into Pakistan. The foreign minister stressed the need for making the intra-Afghan dialogue a success to ensure regional peace and stability. “Peace in Afghanistan is important for Pakistan to achieve its dream of regional connectivity,” he added.