ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari this week rejected the regional election in the internationally disputed Jammu and Kashmir region administered by India, calling on the international community to hold New Delhi accountable for alleged international rights violations in the area.
The three-phased regional election started in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, with voters casting their ballots for the first time in a decade and in a new political setting after the Indian government stripped the region of its autonomy.
The election will be held in stages until Oct. 1 to elect a 90-member local assembly instead of remaining under the direct rule of New Delhi. The result will be announced on Oct. 8.
“President Asif Ali Zardari has categorically rejected the election for the Legislative Assembly of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that these polls are no substitute for Kashmiris’ right to self-determination,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Wednesday.
Indian-administered Kashmir is part of the larger Kashmiri territory, which has been the subject of international dispute since the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Both countries claim Kashmir in full and rule in part. Indian-administered Kashmir has, for decades, witnessed outbreaks of separatist insurgencies to resist control from the government in New Delhi.
Speaking to a delegation of migrants from Indian-administered Kashmir, Zardari said such an election is unacceptable to the people of Kashmir and called upon the international community to hold the Modi government accountable for the alleged human rights violations in the area.
“He further urged the need to take concrete steps toward conducting a plebiscite in line with relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions,” the state broadcaster said.
Zardari reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to provide moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir.
Indian-administered Kashmir has been without a local government since 2018 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party brought down a coalition government elected in 2014, forcing the assembly to dissolve.
A year later, Modi’s government repealed Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted the region its semi-autonomy and downgraded it from a state to a federally controlled territory.
Pakistan president rejects election in Indian-administered Kashmir
https://arab.news/wqnxt
Pakistan president rejects election in Indian-administered Kashmir
- Asif Ali Zardari calls on international community to hold India accountable for alleged rights violations in Kashmir
- Election will be held in stages until Oct. 1 to elect 90-member assembly to represent internationally disputed area
Pakistan offers Turkmenistan its Arabian Sea ports for wider access to ‘South Asia and beyond’
- PM Sharif meets Turkmen president in Ashgabat, calls for deeper trade and energy cooperation
- Islamabad cites Karachi and Gwadar as key to boosting regional connectivity, including TAPI links
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday urged Turkmenistan to expand trade and connectivity through Karachi and Gwadar, saying its Arabian Sea ports offer Turkmen businesses and exporters a direct route to South Asian and global markets, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said after high-level talks in Ashgabat.
Pakistan and Turkmenistan have long discussed regional transport corridors and energy cooperation, including the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) gas pipeline, a proposed multibillion-dollar project that would carry Turkmen natural gas south through Afghanistan into Pakistan and India. Islamabad has also pushed to link the landlocked Central Asian states to the sea by offering transit access through its deep-water ports, which sit at the crossroads of the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia.
On Thursday, Pakistan's Sharif met Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan, in Ashgabat as both countries look to revive momentum in bilateral engagement after years of regional instability. Pakistan has supported Turkmen neutrality policies at the United Nations, while Ashgabat has backed Pakistan during crises, including helping evacuate Pakistani nationals caught in Iran during the Iran–Israel conflict earlier this year.
“The Prime Minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to enhance connectivity with Turkmenistan through land and sea routes and said that Karachi and Gwadar ports were ideally located to be utilized by the Turkmen side to enhance their outreach to South Asia and beyond,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Sharif reiterated his intention to deepen trade and economic ties with Turkmenistan, saying enhanced transport links and energy cooperation could anchor long-term regional integration. He invited President Berdimuhamedow and Turkmenistan’s national leader, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, on official visits to Pakistan next year.
Sharif is on a two-day visit to Turkmenistan for the International Forum on Peace and Trust, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Energy Minister Awais Leghari, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and senior officials.
Turkmenistan’s president thanked Sharif for attending the UN-backed peace forum and said Ashgabat was keen to expand cooperation across multiple sectors, according to the statement.
