UK conference urges international community to help Kashmiris

Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrived in London on Monday to address an international conference on Kashmir in the British Parliament. (Photo courtesy: Pakistan High Commission London)

• Country’s political parties are on the same page regarding the issue, foreign minister says
• He added that Islamabad was doing all it could to highlight human rights’ violations in the region

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmod Qureshi called upon the global community to play its part in ameliorating the sufferings of innocent Kashmiris while addressing an international conference on Jammu and Kashmir held in the UK parliament on February 4. 
Rehman Chishti, a British MP and Chairperson of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Pakistan, hosted the conference on Monday, where Qureshi was the keynote speaker.
Other guest speakers included Sardar Masood Khan, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Debbie Abrahams, MP and Chairperson of the All Party Parliamentary Kashmir Group (APPKG), among others Pakistan’s Foreign Office said in a statement released on Tuesday.
The event was also attended by members of the cross-party Foreign Relations Committee from the Senate of Pakistan, British parliamentarians, mayors and councillors, Kashmiri leaders, academics, participants from civil society organizations, media representatives, students, prominent members of the British Pakistani community, and the High Commissioner of Pakistan to the UK.
Foreign Minister Qureshi called upon the international community, particularly the UK — in its capacity as a permanent member of the UN Security Council where Jammu and Kashmir continues to be a part of the agenda — to play its role in doing away with the suffering of innocent civilians, especially women and children, and to bring to an end the longstanding international dispute, in accordance with the UNSC resolutions and the will of the Kashmiri people.
“The foreign minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s political, moral, and diplomatic support for the oppressed people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement added.
“Prof. Dr. Raihanah Binti Abdullah, OIC-IPHRC Vice Chairperson emphasized that the unabated gross human rights violations faced by the innocent Kashmiri Muslims make it one of the worst and prolonged human rights situations around the world,” the statement said.
In his remarks, President AJK, Sardar Masood Khan stressed upon the need to address the catastrophic situation in Indian-administered Kashmir. He called upon the global powers to take notice of the fast-changing dynamics of the region and thr rapidly deteriorating condition of the Kashmiris.
Pakistan observes Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5 every year. This year, the government had decided to Qureshi to attend a conference on the issue.