Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with top political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir as a “drama” and a “PR exercise”.
Modi on Thursday interacted with top political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir and told them that the priority of the Center is to strengthen democracy at the grassroots level there, for which delimitation has to be done quickly for elections.
This was the first interaction between the central government and the top leadership of mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir since August 5, 2019, when the Center revoked its special status provided under Article 370 and granted the border state Jammu and Kashmir. Divided into the union territories of Kashmir and Ladakh.
“I think it was a drama and why was it a drama? Because it can be called a public relations exercise, but nothing has been achieved,” Qureshi said a day after the high-level meeting on Jammu and Kashmir in New Delhi.
Qureshi said that Kashmiri leaders at the meeting “unanimously demanded complete restoration of statehood”.
“The leaders were not given any concrete reply to their demand and instead were told that a decision on restoring the special status of Kashmir would be taken at an appropriate time, which is a vague statement,” he said.
He said the all-party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leadership was not invited to the meeting.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated since New Delhi abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5, 2019, to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
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India’s decision drew strong backlash from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian envoy.
Qureshi claimed that India is trying to bring about a demographic change in Kashmir which is a matter of concern for Pakistan as it will have long term implications.
Asked about backdoor diplomacy with India, he said there is no such communication going on with India but confirmed the intelligence level contact.
“There is no back-door channel, but there is connectivity on the regional situation at the intelligence level, but there is no back-door channel,” he said.
India has clearly told the international community that abrogation of Article 370 is its internal matter.
India has repeatedly said that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and the country is capable of solving its problems.
India has told Pakistan that it wants normal neighborly relations with Islamabad in an environment free from terror, hostility and violence.
Talking about the Afghan peace process, Qureshi said that he was not aware of the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan, but Turkey was expected to “maintain security responsibilities at Kabul airport”.
“Pakistan wants a stable and peaceful Afghanistan while the US appreciates Pakistan’s positive role in the peace process,” he said.
The External Affairs Minister also said that there has been no change in Pakistan’s policy on nuclear assets.
“Our nuclear assets are for our own defense. We have no offensive intentions.”
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