ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday vowed to continue exposing Indian excesses in occupied Kashmir and its Hindu nationalist agenda.

He was speaking at a consultative session with former foreign secretaries on threats to peace in the region due to India’s belligerent actions.

The former foreign secretaries, who took part in the meeting, included Riaz Khokhar, Salman Bashir, Aizaz Chaudhry and Tehmina Janjua.

This appears to be a new consultative forum as the FO statement mentioned that an understanding was reached during the meeting to continue with this consultative format for discussions on policy matters. The government had in October also set up an advisory council comprising former diplomats and academics.

Regional situation discussed with former foreign secretaries

Mr Qureshi said India was committing ceasefire violations along the Line of Control to divert attention from its internal situation where widespread protests against Modi government’s authoritarian and bigoted actions have roiled the country.

Two Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred because of Indian army’s unprovoked shelling along the LoC on Thursday. There has been a surge in the frequency of the ceasefire breaches over the past few days.

Mr Qureshi said that continuing curfew and communication blackout in held Kashmir, which is now 144 days old, has made it difficult to know the actual situation there.

He mentioned his latest letter to the president of the United Nations Secu­rity Council through which he drew the council’s attention to threats to peace and security from Indian actions.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anti-Muslim and Hindutva agenda has divided India as shown by the countrywide agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2019