ISLAMABAD: The German government wants Indian authorities to keep in mind that human rights of the Kashmiri people must not be violated. Former German chancellor Angela Merkel had told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the situation in Kashmir was not sustainable and human rights must be respected without discrimination, he added.

This was stated by German Ambassador Bernhard Schlagheck while talking to journalists at the inauguration of the third mobile public library in Islamabad on Sunday.

The library has been established so that books can be distributed among people free-of-cost. It has been established by EarthLinks (a real estate developer) in coordination with the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Mr Schlagheck acknowledged progress made by Pakistan to meet conditions set forth by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and said he believed Pakistan’s name would be taken out of the grey list this year.

The next review meeting, scheduled to be held in Berlin, is from June 14 to 17. Mr Schlagheck said the FATF teams should visit Pakistan to see that efforts had been made by Islamabad to curb the practice of money laundering among other issues.

Brushing aside concerns that certain lobbies were active in the FATF against Pakistan, he said the task force was a collective forum and one country alone could not influence decisions.

“It is a technical process and positive results regarding Pakistan are expected,” he said, adding that the situation on the line of control (LoC) seemed to be calm but overall, relations between Pakistan and India needed to improve.

Regarding the generalised scheme of preferences (GSP+) status for Pakistan, the validity of which will expire in the last quarter of 2023, Mr Schlagheck said a European Union (EU) delegation would arrive in Pakistan next week to review the situation.

“This is a new mission from Brussels. The outcome will be positive but there are certain practical steps that Pakistan has to take. While the country signed all the relevant conventions but the implementation process should be visible,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2022