ISLAMABAD (Online): When Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali showed mirror to home minister of India reflecting human rights violations in Kashmir by Indian security In Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK), Rajnath Singh took it lie, skipped a lunch and left for India.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh who was in Islamabad to attend the 7th SAARC Interior/Home Ministers’ conference on Thursday skipped a luncheon hosted by his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
It is vital to mention here that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan termed violence on Kashmiris by Indian security forces as ‘terrorism.’
Addressing a one-day meeting of home ministers from countries belonging to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), Nisar said there was a difference between fighting for freedom and terrorism.
“We have seen brutal force being used against unarmed civilians. It is important to respect the fundamental human rights of the people and not suppress freedom struggle in the name of fight against terrorism,” Nisar said during his address as Pakistan’s interior minister.
Earlier, the minister left his seat of speaker to address all issues point by point raised by home ministers of the member countries.
“I very firmly and strongly believe that instead of engaging in blame game and taking swipes at each other we should take time out to reflect and then sit down together and try to work out the problems.”
Nisar went on to claim that Pakistan suffered heavy losses in the fight against terrorism and the country condemned every single incident of terror which claimed innocent lives.
“Mumbai, Dhaka and other incidents like Pathankot which are highly condemnable does not mean that dozens and scores and in fact hundreds of terror incidents taking place almost on a daily basis in Pakistan are any less condemnable,” he said.
Interior Minister said that time has come to solve the matter with dialogues adding that Pakistan is ready for negotiations with its neighbor country.
He further said that for the development of South Asia it is need to enhance the cooperation among SAARC countries.
The interior minister’s remarks come in the backdrop of escalating tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals over unrest in disputed Kashmir.
The rivalry between Islamabad and New Delhi has hampered efforts to transform Saarc into a meaningful platform for integration in South Asia, which accounts for a fifth of the world’s population but less than a tenth of its economic output.
Both countries have fought two of their three wars since independence over Kashmir, which each rules in part but claims in full. The line of control dividing the Himalayan region still broadly runs along the front when the guns fell silent in 1948.
