Qureshi offers Modi may address Kashmiris in Muzaffarabad

HYDERABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday said some external powers wanted to destabilise Pakistan by arming and funding the terrorist elements involved in the attacks like the suicide blast in a Peshawar mosque.

Talking to media in Tandojam area here, Qureshi said the foreign investment had begun to grow in Pakistan and that the country's exports were also being increased. “They back such elements by giving them arms and funds so that they can keep the western borders of Pakistan hot,” he maintained.

He noted that the situation was worsening in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and the powers in question wanted to create distraction for Pakistan on the western borders. He observed that the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic by India had caused a setback to their economy. The foreign minister added that Pakistan comparatively had been recognised to have managed the situation well.

“The textile industry of Pakistan has received so many orders which the mills are unable to supply,” he said, adding that no textile mills, looms or spindles were closed in Faisalabad at the moment. According to him, the textile exports had stalled during the previous governments.

The FM recalled that when the cricket team of New Zealand was scheduled to visit Pakistan a scare was spread and the team’s visit was cancelled. He added that in that regard he presented the statistics and proofs at a press conference at the foreign office besides handing over dossiers to the Secretary General of the United Nations, president of the Security Council and their foreign ministers.

Replying to another query, he said 900,000 Indian army was stationed in IIOJ&K and that there were also the so-called special laws and extra judicial killings were happening as well.

“The occupying forces take away young men and after some days their dead bodies are found. There were also mass graves. All these are tactics through which they have suppressed the people,” he added.

He threw down the gauntlet to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to come to Muzaffarabad and present his case to the people.

In return, he said, Modi should allow Prime Minister Imran Khan to go to Srinagar and present his case before the people there. “Then let the people to judge who is right and who wins,” he stated.

He apprised that he had written 23 letters to UNSC and president of SC over the Kashmir issue besides organised debated in the UN thrice since August, 2019, annexation of IIOJ&K by India.

Commenting on creation of a new province in Punjab, he said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was deceiving the people to whom he promised South Punjab province.

He said he wrote a to Bilawal and asked him to join hands with the PTI government to address the issue of South Punjab but the PPP leader did not even bother to reply. He said the PTI swept 2018 polls in southern Punjab but the PPP could only secure 4 seats.