ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi urged India on Tuesday to immediately release all political prisoners in Kashmir, even as he pushed for those imprisoned to be extended their right to freedom of speech.
During his visit to Muzaffarabad — the capital city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir — President Alvi addressed a special session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly as part of the Kashmir Solidarity Day commemorations.
He also urged India to allow the Kashmiri leadership to travel abroad and present their viewpoints to the rest of the world; and to stop the use of firearms and pellet guns against civilians in the area.
President Alvi stressed that India should stop its ongoing “atrocities” and allow international observers to investigate human rights’ violations in the Valley, as well.
Mushtaq Minhas, the Minister for Information in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, told Arab News that Dr. Alvi’s visit to Muzaffarabad was significant and showed that the Pakistani leadership fully supported the struggle of the Kashmiri people.
Meanwhile, Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) ---- which is the media wing of Pakistan’s military --- said that decades of “atrocities” have failed to suppress the Kashmiri freedom struggle.
“Kashmir remains a long-pending unresolved issue on the UN agenda since 1948. Decades of atrocities by Indian Occupation Forces have failed to suppress ever strengthening legitimate freedom struggle. Determined Kashmiris shall succeed IA. #KashmirSolidarityDay,” he tweeted.
Kashmir Solidarity Day is an occasion which is marked across Pakistan on February 5 every year. This year, the government of Pakistan re-affirmed its “unflinching support” to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle for self-determination.
India must release all political prisoners in Kashmir — President Alvi
India must release all political prisoners in Kashmir — President Alvi
- Urges neighbor to recognize the rights of the people in the Valley
- Pakistan remains committed to finding a just and peaceful solution to long-standing dispute, foreign minister says
Pakistan FM discusses regional situation with Saudi counterpart, urges restraint and dialogue
- This is the second time the two foreign ministers have spoken since the Arab Coalition targeted weapon shipments on Yemen’s Mukalla port
- Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has invited factions in south Yemen to hold a dialogue in Riyadh to ‘discuss just solutions to southern cause’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, discussed the regional situation with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and called for restraint and dialogue to resolve issues, the Pakistani foreign office said late Friday, amid tensions prevailing over Yemen.
This is the second time the two foreign ministers have spoken this week since the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen carried out a “limited” airstrike on Dec. 30, targeting two shipments of smuggled weapons and military equipment sent from the Emirati port of Fujairah to Mukalla in southern Yemen.
A coalition forces spokesperson said the weapons were meant to support the Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces, backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in Yemen’s Hadramaut and Al-Mahra “with the aim of fueling the conflict.” The UAE has since announced withdrawal of its remaining troops from Yemen, rejecting any actions that could threaten the Kingdom or undermine regional stability.
In their telephonic conversation late Friday, the Pakistani and Saudi foreign ministers discussed the latest situation in the region, according to the Pakistani foreign office.
“FM [Dar] stressed that all concerned in the region must avoid any escalatory move and advised to resolve the issues through dialogue and diplomacy for the sake of regional peace and stability,” it added.
Separately, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry invited factions in south Yemen to hold a dialogue in Riyadh to “discuss just solutions to the southern cause.”
The ministry statement said the conference in the Saudi capital had been requested by Rashad Al-Alimi, President of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, and the Kingdom urged all factions to participate “to develop a comprehensive vision” that would fulfill the aspirations of the southern people.
Disregarding previous agreements with the Arab Coalition, the STC separatist group launched a sweeping military campaign early in December, seizing the governorates of Hadramaut along the Saudi border and the eastern governorate of Al-Mahra in Yemen’s border with Oman. It also took control of the strategic PetroMasila oilfields, which account for a massive portion of Yemen’s remaining oil wealth.
The advance has raised the spectre of the return of South Yemen, a separate state from 1967 to 1990, while dealing a hammer-blow to slow-moving peace negotiations with Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Saudi Arabia said the STC action poses a direct threat to the Kingdom’s national security, and regional stability. The Kingdom has reiterated the only way to bring the southern cause to a resolution is through dialogue.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s foreign office expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia and reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to the Kingdom’s security, amid rising tensions in Yemen.
“Pakistan expresses complete solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and reaffirms its commitment to security of the Kingdom,” Pakistani foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told reporters at a weekly news briefing.
“Pakistan maintains its firm support for the resolution of Yemen issue through dialogue and diplomacy and hopes that Yemen’s people and regional powers work together toward inclusive and enduring settlement of the issue, safeguarding regional stability.”
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark defense pact in September last year, according to which aggression against one country will be treated as an attack against both. The pact signaled a push by both governments to formalize long-standing military ties into a binding security commitment.
