Pakistan said on Thursday that there was no presence of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Pakistan-occupied Kash-mir.
Pakistan said on Thursday that there was no presence of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Pakistan-occupied Kash-mir.
At his weekly press briefing here, foreign office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said the reports in this regard were just rumours.
He said the Kashmir issue must be resolved between Pakistan and India, adding it was a longstanding item on the agenda of the United Nations.
“There are several UNSC resolutions on the issue which accept the right of self-determination of the Kashmir people under the auspices of the United Nations,” he said.
The spokesperson said several Indian writers and intellectuals had also expressed similar views about the disputed nature of Jammu and Kashmir territory and the “blatant human rights violations by the Indian troops in Kashmir”.
His comments came amid the SAARC inter-summit ministerial meeting held in Pokhara, Nepal, from 14-17 March 2016.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s advisor on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, led the Pakistan delegation to attend the meeting.
On the sidelines, Mr Aziz held meetings with his counterparts from the SAARC member states — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka — to present formal invitation letters from the Pakistan Prime Minister to their heads of state/government for the 19th SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad in 2016.
Mr Zakaria said Pakistan was the biggest victim of terrorism and there is national consensus to root out this menace without any distinction.
He said efforts were on to arrange direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban to achieve the objectives of peace and stability in the region.
Mr Zakaria pointed out that the Quadrilateral Coordination Group involving Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States were making efforts in their domain to bring the two sides to the negotiating table.
He said Pakistan believed in an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process that is indispensable for peace and stability in the region.
