DACCA: The Foreign Minister, Mr Sharifuddin Pirzada, declared here today [Oct 22] that Pakistan was taking “necessary steps” to effectively counter the Indian move to integrate Occupied Kashmir.

The Foreign Minister said that all the friendly countries had been informed of the Indian designs in Occupied Kashmir and he himself had talked to the Commonwealth leaders at the recent conference in London. He also invited the attention of Foreign Ministers of different countries to the latest Indian move and raised this issue during the UN General Assembly debate.

The Foreign Minister, who made a brief stopover at Dacca airport this morning on his way to People’s China, told reporters in reply to a question that there had been no further communication from India on the implementation of the Tashkent Declaration.

The Foreign Minister said he had made Pakistan’s position “absolutely clear” on the subject in the course of his speech at the UN General Assembly.

Replying to another question, the Foreign Minister said that Pakistan’s friendship with China was not based on expediency. “Likewise, we have good relations with other countries.”

The Foreign Minister categorically declared that Pakistan was opposed to the “two China” theory and that this country would forcefully support the great country’s admission into the UN during the next debate on the issue. Asked to explain as to whether opposing two-China theory also meant ouster of Formosa from the UN, the Foreign Minister replied in the affirmative.

He described his weeklong tour of China as a “goodwill” visit and said he would discuss with the Chinese leaders matters of mutual interest.

[Agencies add,] referring to Afro-Asian unity, the Foreign Minister said that at the recent U.N. meeting, unanimity was observed among all the Afro-Asian countries in most of the important issues.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2016