Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday (today), held separate meetings with United Nations President Volkan Bozkir and UN Secretary General António Guterres at UN Headquarters in New York.
According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed gratitude to Volkan Bozkir, President UN General Assembly, for his proactive leadership in convening the UN General Assembly Session to discuss the situation in Palestine.
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During the meeting, FM Qureshi apprised the UNGA President that Pakistani nation was outraged at Israel’s use of indiscriminate and disproportionate force against innocent Palestinians, and reiterated Pakistan calls for an immediate ceasefire, and to ensure Israel’s full compliance with international humanitarian and human rights laws.
Good to meet @volkan_bozkir.
🇵🇰 appreciates your leadership, convening #UNGA75 for #Palestine. There are no words strong enough to condemn Israel’s tyranny. We call for an immediate ceasefire & to ensure Israel’s upholds all values of int’l human rights law.#UnitedForPalestine pic.twitter.com/86QKTQijS2— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) May 20, 2021
The foreign minister also briefed Volkan Bozkir on the deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K), including continued human rights violations, occupation and double lock-down. He also called for the resolution of the festering dispute of Jammu and Kashmir for lasting peace in South Asia.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi also invited UNGA President Volkan Bozkir to visit Pakistan, which the latter accepted and said that he was looking forward to visiting Pakistan from 26 to 28 May 2021.
Furthermore, FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi also held separate meeting with UN Secretary General António Guterres.
During the meeting, Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed deep concern over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories caused by Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, resulting in over 250 deaths including dozens of women and children. The Foreign Minister underscored that his visit to New York to attend the General Assembly session on Palestine was an expression of Pakistan’s firm and unwavering support to the legitimate cause of the Palestinian people for their right to self-determination.
Urged UN Secretary General to use his good offices and mediation to resolve the Jammu & Kashmir dispute, including by calling on India to rescind its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 & to allow Kashmiris to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination. https://t.co/iCi3itqrRY
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) May 21, 2021
The foreign minister urged the UN Secretary General to use his good offices to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with the UN Charter and the relevant Security Council Resolutions.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi also raised the issue of increasing intolerance, discrimination, violence and Islamophobia against Muslims, he urged the need for the relevant UN bodies to address this challenge, as well as take effective measures against the threat posed by violent nationalist, supremacist, far right and extreme-right wing terrorist groups and ideologies.
It is to be noted that FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi is in New York o attend the UN General Assembly Session on Palestine as part of Pakistan’s extensive diplomatic outreach to mobilize international support for the Palestinians.
