Senator Mushahid criticises Indian defence minister’s statement against talks with Kashmiris
Senate Defence Committee Chairman Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed Thursday termed the recent statement of Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley– “Pakistan should stop talking to the Kashmiri leadership or else India will not resume dialogue”– as an expression of the “hawkish, irresponsible and arrogant mindset” of the new Indian leadership.
The senator made these remarks at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) as a keynote speaker in a seminar titled “Journey to Peace and Co-Prosperity: The United Nations, Pakistan and the Republic of Korea”, organised in collaboration with the Embassy of Republic of Korea.
Senator Mushahid said that Pakistan’s position on Kashmir was grounded in the legitimacy of the role of the UN and its resolutions on that issue. He said as recent as June 6, 1998, there was a unanimous resolution of the UN Security Council which refers to the Kashmir question and this resolution Number 1172 of June 6, 1998 urged both Pakistan and India to find out “mutually acceptable solutions that address the root cause of the tensions, including Kashmir” and this resolution urges the “UN Secretary General to report to the UN Security Council on steps taken to implement in this regard”.
The senator also supported the notion of a nuclear free zone in Korea and said that a global nuclear policy should be based on universal principles of non proliferation and be applicable for a nuclear free zone in the Middle East as well.
He said Pakistan and Korea were partners for progress and peace in the 21st century, which he said is the ‘Asian Century’ and they had a lot of similarities because the oldest ceasefire was in Kashmir, while the second oldest ceasefire was in Korea. He said peace in both these regions was linked in upholding the UN charter and implementing the UN resolutions.
The senator also welcomed the new head of the UNMOGIP Major General Delali Sayi from Ghana as well as the UN Representative in Pakistan Timo Pakala and said that the UN had a legal and moral and political responsibility to preserve and promote peace and in this regard the UN peacekeepers should take notice of India’s repeated violations of the ceasefire on the LoC.
He said Pakistan and Korea had similar positions on the expansion of the UN Security Council and such expansion should be based on principles of equity, justice and fair representation and not result in creation of new power blocs of monopoly based on size and strength.
Senator Mushahid said that Pakistan was the biggest contributor to the UN peacekeeping as it has 8,250 troops under the UN command.
Earlier, the Korean Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Song Jong-hwan said that the purpose to organise the seminar was to highlight Korean efforts at the bilateral and multilateral level with a focus on the UN Charter to maintain international peace and security.
On the occasion, a special message from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a Korean national, was also conveyed to the participants, congratulating the organisers for highlighting the contributions of Pakistan and Korea for the improvement of bilateral relations, and for supporting the global mission of the United Nations.
UN Representative in Pakistan Timo Pakala also acknowledged that Pakistan has played a key role in the UN peacekeeping programme globally, most prominently in Somalia, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Congo and Liberia; adding that Pakistan stood as the largest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping missions in the world.
At the end of the seminar, Mushahid presented reports of the Senate Defence Committee to Maj Gen Delali, the Head of the UNMOGIP as well as the UN Representative in Pakistan. Ambassador (r) Shamshad Ahmad Khan, Ambassador (r) Khalid Mahmood along with other diplomats and scholars also addressed the seminar.
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