UNGA president-elect due in Pakistan on Monday

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: President-elect of United Nations General Assembly, Ambassador Volkan Bozkir, will visit Pakistan on Monday, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi confirmed on Thursday.

“As the UNGA President-elect is coming here, I will present before him Pakistan’s position on Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, which is suffering [from] the worst human rights situation,” the foreign minister said in a statement.

Qureshi said he would apprise Ambassador Bozkir of the atrocities committed by Indian security forces in held Kashmir.

Ambassador Bozkir has been elected as the President of UNGA’s 75th session. Earlier, UNGA President Maria Fernanda Espinosa visited Pakistan in January last year.

About the visit of a foreign media delegation to the Line of Control (LoC) in Chirikot Sector, Qureshi said the step was important to update international representatives about the current situation in the held valley.

The foreign journalists interacted with the victims of India’s continued ceasefire violations and witnessed the situation in the Poonch sector, where the civilian population suffered frequent targeting by Indian side with heavy weapons, mortars and cluster ammunition, according to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR). The foreign minister said Pakistan invited the foreign journalists to show them the double standards of India. “Will India follow the suit and allow independent media to visit occupied Jammu and Kashmir?” he asked, questioning New Delhi’s reluctance towards the international observers to monitor the situation.

Qureshi said India was also restricting movement of the UN-deployed observers to hide the truth. He stressed that India was violating international law by targeting civilians along the Line of Control.

On relations with Bangladesh, the foreign minister said Pakistan wanted to maintain good bilateral ties by “forgetting bitterness of past and moving towards a good future”. He mentioned that Pakistan had also appointed a new ambassador to Bangladesh.

On the other hand, he said India had gradually strained relations with its neighbours, be it Pakistan, China, Nepal or Bangladesh. He said India was spoiling relations with other regional countries due to Hindutva mindset and mentioned that it also faced expulsion by Iran in Chabahar project due to its wrong policies.

“The so-called impression of a ‘Shining India’ is over now owing to incumbent government’s policies of hatred and bias,” he said.