India urged to put an end to custodial killings in Kashmir
ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: Taking serious notice of large-scale custodial killings and disappearances in occupied Kashmir, Pakistan on Tuesday expressed the hope that the Indian prime minister would fulfil his pledge of zero tolerance for human rights violations, which he conceded, were taking place in the disputed territory.
“It is a matter of deep concern for us that custodial killings and disappearances are taking place especially for rewards. It is extremely important that this is stopped forthwith and those responsible for these heinous crimes are brought to justice and strict action is taken against them,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said at a weekly news briefing here.
“According to some estimates and Kashmiris say about 8000 people are still missing in Kashmir. We don’t know what has happened to them,” she noted while responding to question.
Recalling Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s categorical statement last year that some excesses had been committed in Kashmir and henceforth there would be zero tolerance of such human rights violations, Ms Aslam said: “We do hope this would be implemented.”
Replying to another question she said Pakistan welcomed visits by Kashmiri leaders and maintained that Prime Minister’s invitation to Hurriyet leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who was also an important Kashmiri leader, was in that context.
“We do hope that he would be enabled to undertake this visit,” she said in a veiled message to the Indian government which is withholding his passport.
Replying to a question, Ms Aslam said there were no dates yet for a meeting to discuss the Siachen issue, but hoped that it would take place at the earliest.
N-PROLIFERATION: Refuting claims that nuclear proliferation network still existed in Pakistan, the spokesperson emphatically declared: “The proliferation, as many experts say is still taking place, is not from Pakistan but from others, mainly Western countries.” Noting that proliferation of nuclear weapons was a serious issue, she added: “We would like to see a strong action like Pakistan has taken to disable the proliferation network.”
In this context, she pointed out that a number of non-proliferation experts and international think-tanks had confirmed that in most of the Western countries no action had been taken to stop N-proliferation.
MIDEAST INITIATIVE: On a query about President Musharraf’s Middle East peace mission, the spokesperson said that at this stage he was holding consultations only with the leadership of the Muslim countries to formulate ideas for a new initiative and not talking to other parties or other influential actors. However, she said, if these deliberations resulted in a strong new initiative then certainly the European Union and the US would also be consulted.—Q.A.
