Responding to Pakistan foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry’s invitation for talks on Kashmir issue, India foreign secretary S Jaishankar expressed his willingness to visit Islamabad and discuss ways of stopping infiltration of terrorists into the country.
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“It is unfortunate that our honest attempts to independently assess the facts in relation to reports of human rights violations have failed”, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a news release.
“The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has been denied access by India to Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, whereas Pakistan has never prevented United Nations officials from travelling to Azad Jammu and Kashmir”, he added. Pakistan says it gives only moral and diplomatic backing.
Two days back, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry invited his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to visit Islamabad for talks on Kashmir that “has been the main bone of contention between India and Pakistan”, and that it was the worldwide obligation of the two countries to resolve the issue.
However, India has already rejected Pakistan’s invitation to hold talks on Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan People’s Party Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, strongly reacted to the recent statement by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, with regard to the insurgency in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.
He stated that the world was aware that Pakistan has a long history of violence and terrorism against India, as also in the broader region. “We would encourage greater dialogue and counter-terrorism cooperation between Pakistan and India” said Mark Toner, Deputy Spokesperson.
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Kashmiri women carry gunny bags containing fodder for cattle as they walk in a mustard field in Bijbehara, about 55 km south of Srinagar, summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, April 5, 2015. While officials maintained that it is “unlikely” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would travel to Pakistan for the SAARC finance ministers conference on August 25, they also remained non-committal on Mr. Modi’s visit for the SAARC summit. However, he said no one could “belittle” or wish away the “legitimate struggle” of the Kashmiri people and it was incumbent upon the worldwide community to ensure implementation of the relevant United Nations resolutions to settle the dispute.
