ISLAMABAD/ MUZAFFARABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif on Friday severely criticised Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for his remarks about the Saudi-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), terming them “highly unfortunate and irresponsible”.

“It flies in the face of history and Pakistan’s trusted relationship with the Kingdom.” he tweeted.

Also on Friday while addressing a special session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on the invitation of Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir, Mr Sharif said that political differences with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government apart, his party was ready to lend all possible support to it for the settlement of Kashmir issue for an early end to miseries of Kashmiris.

He said Pakistan should make a solemn pledge that it would exploit all legitimate means to get Kashmiris their right to freedom.

In a statement, however, the PML-N president raised questions over the PTI government’s policy over Kashmir, saying since the annexation of the valley by the fascist Modi government, the federal government’s policy on Kashmir lacked direction and substance. There is a need for a serious and candid review of the government’s performance in this most vital area. Why the government has failed to present its case effectively before the international community, he added.

Referring to Foreign Minister Qureshi’s statement about Saudi Arabia, he said the “cavalier” attitude of the PTI government was undermining Pakistan’s core relations with friendly countries.

Mr Sharif accused the government of isolating Pakistan at the global stage due to its dismal stances on international issues. The government, he said, had made similar blunders in the past.

Says despite differences PML-N is ready to support govt over Kashmir issue

He urged the government to apologise to Saudi Arabia and deal with the matter wisely and efficiently, reminding it about the strategic and historic brotherly relations between the two countries. He said Riyadh had always supported Islamabad in its time of need.

He said the nation was concerned over the nature of present government’s relationship with Saudi Arabia.

He termed the foreign minister’s remarks a diplomatic folly and the height of irresponsibility. “This attitude is against the unity of Muslim Umma and Pakistan’s vital interests.

Foreign Minister Qureshi in an unusually sharp warning on Wednesday had asked the Saudi Arabia-led OIC to stop dilly-dallying on the convening of a meeting of its Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) on Kashmir.

Appearing in a talk-show he said: “I am once again respectfully telling OIC that a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers is our expectation. If you cannot convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris.”

Big tragedy

Speaking in the AJK assembly, Mr Sharif termed India’s Aug 5 move a big tragedy. He said Narendra Modi had given a message to the world that from today he had accomplished illegal occupation of Kashmir.

This was a challenge not just for the people and state of Pakistan, also but for the whole world, he said. “As a nation, we will have to play our role, by projecting Kashmir cause and exposing Mr Modi to the best of our abilities. A comprehensive role and measures, not just rhetoric or hyperbole,” he said.

“If you have included occupied Kashmir in the map of Pakistan, then take some practical steps with unity, unanimity and faith,” he said to Prime Minister Imran Khan, though without naming him.

“I am not saying we should wage a nuclear war. The nuclear power has been bestowed on us by the Almighty to be used as an effective deterrent so that no power can cast an evil eye on us.”

Stating that Pakistan’s nuclear capability was in itself the biggest guarantee of peace in the region, he, however, added that true peace would be established when Kashmiris would be given their right.

“And if despite being a nuclear power, we fail to do our stuff to get them this right, we won’t be able to pay back to Kashmiris what we owe to them.”

Mr Sharif gave examples of Germany and Japan, saying both nations were devastated in World War II, but within five to six decades they gained ground with great deal of effort done day and night.

The PML-N leader regretted that why Pakistan once a “rising star of the Islamic world” was now lagging behind many smaller nations with a much devalued currency.

“If we adopt the way that led Pakistan to become a nuclear power we can make Kashmir part of Pakistan.”

On behalf of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and leaders of all other opposition parties, he said: “I reiterate our lives and death are linked with Kashmiris and we pay tribute to their unprecedented sacrifices and bravery.”

“The way they are determined despite all odds and adversities, if we continued to hold their hands firmly with practical steps, they will never forget us. But if we abandoned them, we will have no amnesty, neither here nor hereafter.”

Earlier, AJK premier Haider also spoke and thanked the entire Pakistani leadership for visiting Muzaffarabad after Aug 5 last year to express solidarity with Kashmiris.

“We have affiliation with the 220 million people of Pakistan without any discrimination of party,” he said.

Mr Haider warned that if Kashmiris achieved freedom on their own without practical support from outside, they would not surrender it in favour of any other nation.

Though the AJK Constitution is silent on address of any dignitary to the regional legislature, Speaker Qadir told the house at the outset that while presidents and prime ministers of Pakistan had been addressing the special sittings of the assembly he had set a new tradition and paved way for the address of the leader of the opposition so as to express the affection and commitment of Kashmiris with the state of Pakistan, regardless of the discrimination of government and opposition.

Mr Sharif was accompanied by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam parliamentary leader Maulana Asad Mahmood who witnessed the proceedings from the visitors’ gallery.

Interestingly, none of four PPP legislators were in attendance at the session, as the entire 12-member opposition, comprising other than it the lawmakers from PTI, Muslim Conference and Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party, had decided to stay away from it.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2020