MCIS 2018: Pakistan urges world to play role for Kashmir, Palestine

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  • Dastgir offers to share Pakistan’s extensive counterterrorism experience with partners

MOSCOW: Minister for Defence Khurram Dastgir has said that the international community should play its due role to stop brutal suppression of the people in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) and Palestine.

“It is imperative for the world to prevent India and Israel to stop brutal suppression of the innocent people of Kashmir and Palestine respectively. Kashmir issue must be resolved in accordance with the UN resolutions, taking into account the aspirations of the Kashmiri people,” he said during his speech at the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS 2018).

The defence minister appreciated Russia’s role in combating ISIS in Syria, but warned that non-state actors representing conflicting interests in the region would continue to threaten the fragile peace process in Syria. He offered to share Pakistan’s hard-won and extensive counterterrorism experience with international partners.

“After successful completion of kinetic operations, we are consolidating our gains under a comprehensive National Action Plan to deny space to the terrorists to re-group or re-establish their networks,” he said while emphasising Pakistan’s success in countering terrorism through Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fisaad operations.

Dastgir supported Russia’s efforts to develop a regional approach to the cessation of conflict in Afghanistan. “Pakistan maintains that an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led internal reconciliation process is the only viable option of sustainable peace in Afghanistan,” he said.

The minister expressed concern at the presence of Daesh in Afghanistan and at the use of drug money for terror financing as a consequence of the phenomenal rise in drug cultivation in Afghanistan.

During his visit to Moscow, Dastgir will meet his Russian counterpart to discuss burgeoning defence relations between the two nations. On the side lines of the MCIS 2018, the minister, who is also Pakistan co-chair of the Pak-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission, will meet key Russian officials.