ISLAMABAD: The spokesperson of the Foreign Office Sunday responded to a video clip insinuating that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had threatened India over the conduct of a Group of 20 (G20)Â meeting in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Zardari’s comments during his attendance at the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the coastal Indian state of Goa were reported by local media as a “veiled threat” to New Delhi.
According to OpIndia, he was questioned about India’s plan to hold the summit in occupied Kashmir, to which he responded: “Waqt aanay per aisa jawaab dein gey jou yaad rahay gaa (we will give such a response at an appropriate time that it will be remembered).”
He accused India of attempting to perpetuate through the summit its illegal occupation of the Himalayan region, which he noted is an internationally recognised dispute that has remained on the agenda of the United Nations for over seven decades.
India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United States, among other nations, are members of the group. India currently holds the rotating year-long presidency of the G20 and is set to host a leaders’ summit in New Delhi in early September.
Last month, it released a full calendar of events leading up to the summit, which included G20 and Youth 20Â meetings in the cities of Leh and Srinagar in April and May. Pakistan has condemned the choice of venues in disputed territory.
Islamabad had also slammed the scheduling of two other meetings of Y20, a consultative forum on youth affairs, in the two cities, terming it equally disconcerting.
Responding to the claim, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that any such insinuation was not only mischievous but also highly irresponsible, and an attempt to shift the focus from the foreign minister’s key message of conflict resolution through dialogue and in accordance with international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
Baloch reiterated Zardari had emphasized the critical importance of relevant Security Council resolutions for a peaceful settlement of the dispute, and based his case on international law.
The spokesperson further stressed that journalistic norms must be respected while reporting on sensitive inter-state matters.
The foreign ministry had already expressed Pakistan’s strong indignation over India’s decision to hold the meeting in Srinagar on May 22-24.
Baloch maintained that India’s move was the latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in sheer disregard of the Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law.
The spokesperson added that such events could not hide the reality of Jammu and Kashmir being an internationally recognised dispute.
Additionally, such activities could not divert the international community’s attention from India’s brutal suppression of the people of Kashmir, including illegal attempts to change the demographic composition of the occupied territory.
