ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strengthened its diplomatic offensive against India over the latter’s continuous violations of human rights in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and its efforts of changing the demography of the held valley in violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
US President Donald Trump has also started mediating between Islamabad and New Delhi as he made three phone calls to Prime Minister Imran Khan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the past four days.
Sources privy to the development revealed that a telephonic conversation was held between Trump and Imran on August 16 wherein the latter urged the former to play his due role in preventing bloodbath in IOK.
Sources said that the premier also asked the US president to stop India changing the demography of Kashmir and from carrying on with the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Muslims, as both of these acts would be in strict violation of UNSC resolutions. He also warned that Pakistan would have no other option but to get involved directly if anything happened to the Kashmiris, sources added.
Sources also said that the US president also contacted the Indian premier and shared his concerns of the decaying situation of the occupied valley. “Trump also urged Modi to restore normalcy in Kashmir,” sources added.
Sources informed that the US president then called the Premier Imran on Monday night and told him that he had spoken to the Indian premier and had urged him to review his strategy on Kashmir and to normalise ties with its nuclear-armed neighbour. He also told him that Modi had expressed concerns over being linked with Germany’s Nazi Party and had requested that the ‘rhetoric’ should end, sources added.
“The conversation between Imran and Trump was constructive and structured but there is a difference of sentiment between Trump’s efforts and the US State Department,” sources said, adding that the US envoy on Afghan peace process had also played a key role in bringing Trump to the mediation table.
“We are using all possible diplomatic channels to raise the Kashmir issue in front of the world and we have laid down a way to keep the Kashmir issue relevant. The world has started listening to Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir,” sources added.
An official, on the condition of anonymity, said that Pakistan has credible information that there were anti-India demonstrations in the occupied valley on Monday night and the Indian forces cracked down on the protesters. “We know there have been incidents of violence and there had been casualties as well, but we do not have the exact numbers,” the official added.
The official also said that Pakistan’s success in raising the Kashmir issue at the UNSC meeting was a major diplomatic win for Pakistan.
“India employed all possible measures to stop the session but it failed to do so and we were able to convince China to take the issue to UNSC despite the upcoming visit of the Chinese president to India in October,” the official said.
The official also said that Russia backed the resolution on Kashmir despite its ties with India. “Although India requested Russia to veto the resolution, it did not oblige and mentioned UN resolutions on Kashmir in its text, something it has never done before,” the official added.
Key support, the official said, came from the US and United Kingdom as the latter’s representative fully backed the resolution and demanded that human rights violations in the occupied valley be investigated.
The official said that the only country to oppose the session was France, which could be because of the Rafael deal, but the country did not veto the session. “Pakistan went an extra mile to convince France to not veto the session,” the official added.
It is worth noting that the Pakistani government has decided to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against India’s aggression in occupied Kashmir.
