Qureshi reaffirms his support to Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has reaffirmed the unwavering support to Kashmiris in their just struggle for freedom.
In a tweet on Sunday, the foreign minister said that despite decades of Indian occupation, the resolve of Kashmiris and immutable bonds to Pakistan stand strong. He said on this day in 1947, true representatives of Jammu and Kashmir adopted a historic resolution for accession to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari has said that generation after generation of Kashmiri men, women and children have confronted and resisted the Indian occupation, brutality and incarceration.
In her message on the occasion of Youm-e-Ilhaq-e-Pakistan, she presented salute to the courage of Kashmiris.
Meanwhile, in his twitter message regarding the day, Special Assistant to the PM for Overseas Pakistanis & HRD and Chairman National Tourism Coord Board Syed Zulifkar Bukhari has said on this day in 1947, ‘genuine’ representatives of Kashmiris announced accession to Pakistan.
He said clearly the global community failed to play their part because today in 2020 Kashmir is still oppressed and with even greater risk now with a mad Hindu supremacist regime in India.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has called for strict adherence to the principles of the UN Charter, especially non-use of force, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, non-interference in the internal affairs, and the exercise of the right of self-determination by peoples under colonial and foreign occupation.
The foreign minister was speaking at the high-level segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) through video link, said a statement on Sunday.
The foreign minister expressed deep concern over the oppression and atrocities being perpetrated against the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK).
Referring to the COVID-19, the foreign minister said that the pandemic had triggered the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. He added that the pandemic has exposed the inequalities of global finance, trade and investment structures as the poorest, among and within nations, would suffer the most and 130 million people would be pushed back into poverty.
The foreign minister pointed out that while the rich nations, with a population of 1.5 billion, had generated nearly $10 trillion in deficit financing to address the crisis, amounting to 10-20 percent of their GDP, developing countries, with over 7 billion people, are struggling to mobilize even $1 trillion – around 1 percent of GDP – to respond to the health and economic challenges.
The foreign minister said that, to overcome this challenge, Prime Minister Imran Khan proposed debt relief as one of the quickest ways to provide essential fiscal space to the developing countries. He also added that the reallocation of existing Special Drawing Rights and creation of additional SDRs was another avenue to meet the financing requirements of developing countries.
The foreign minister also highlighted that despite its financial difficulties, Pakistan had deployed $ 8 billion, 3 percent of its GDP, to assist its disadvantaged and poor.
Keeping in view the geopolitical divisions within the UN Security Council, the foreign minister cautioned that the Council would not be revitalized by accommodating the narrow ambitions of those who seek power and privilege. He added that additional permanent members in the Security Council would compound, not resolve, its inability to act.
The foreign minister noted that the world is facing three simultaneous challenges: “fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, achieving the 2030 Agenda and preventing climate catastrophe.” To meet these challenges, the foreign minister stressed the need to restore the central role of ECOSOC to promote “better standards of life in larger freedoms.”
He pledged that Pakistan would take a leading role to promote these objectives during its forthcoming presidency of the Economic and Social Council. – TLTP