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Pakistan’s foreign minister stutters after calling India ‘friend’
Bilawal Bhutto settles for ‘neighbouring countries’ after a brief struggle for words
www.independent.co.uk
Pakistan’s foreign minister stutters after calling India ‘friend’
Pakistan’s foreign minister struggled briefly to define his country’s relationship with India at a recent news conference.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari settled for “neighbouring countries” after using the word “friends” during a press conference on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York.
Mr Zardari was talking about the long-gestating Kashmir issue on the sidelines of the Commission on the Status of Women when he found himself in a spot.
He was asked a question comparing the Palestinian conflict and the situation between India and Pakistan – both nuclear armed countries and long-time rivals who claim the Kashmir region as their own.
He said Pakistan faces an “uphill task” in getting the UN to focus its attention on Kashmir.
“And whenever the issue of Kashmir is brought up, our friends within, with... our friend… our... our neighbouring, uh, countries, strongly object, vociferously object and they perpetuate a post-fact narrative where they try to claim that this is not a dispute for the United Nations, that this is not a disputed territory recognised for the international community,” Mr Zardari said.
A video of the minister’s comments has gone viral on social media.
Mr Zardari’s evident reluctance to call India a “friend” comes despite Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s apparent softening stance towards his rival neighbour.
Mr Sharif’s 34-year-old Pakistani foreign minister has in the past made many attempts to put the Jammu and Kashmir issue on the spotlight by raising it at nearly every UN platform.
He has made harsh comments critiquing India in the past, including a strong remark against the country’s prime minister Narendra Modi, where he dubbed Mr Modi as the “butcher of Gujarat”.
The remarks had caused a number of heated exchanges between the diplomats of the nuclear neighbours.
Ever since being split into two countries after achieving independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought wars and suffered strained ties.
The main contentious issue between them has been Jammu and Kashmir, where Delhi has been accused of numerous human-rights violations and Islamabad has been accused of fomenting terror and a proxy war by backing separatist militants.
Both countries claim the territory as their own.
The revoking of a seven-decade-long privileged status for Kashmir by India in 2019 had further exacerbated tensions.
Mr Zardari said drawing parallels between Kashmir and the Palestinian conflict was “very justified” as there are “many similarities between the plight of the people of Kashmir and the plight of the people of Palestine”.
“I think it’s fair to say that both issues remain unaddressed by the United Nations and we’d like to see an extra focus not only on Palestine but also on Kashmir,” he said.
In an interview with Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV in January, Mr Sharif had called for “serious and sincere talks” with Mr Modi on “burning points like Kashmir.”
Islamabad on Saturday, however, skipped the meeting of Chief Justices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which was scheduled in New Delhi, according to the Express Tribute.
“Due to his unavoidable commitments on the scheduled meeting dates, the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan will not be able to participate in the SCO meeting,” said a statement by the foreign office.
India has reportedly invited Pakistan’s foreign minister to attend the SCO ministers meeting to be held tentatively in May this year and Mr Sharif is expected to attend the subsequent main SCO summit in June.
Pakistan’s foreign minister struggled briefly to define his country’s relationship with India at a recent news conference.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari settled for “neighbouring countries” after using the word “friends” during a press conference on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York.
Mr Zardari was talking about the long-gestating Kashmir issue on the sidelines of the Commission on the Status of Women when he found himself in a spot.
He was asked a question comparing the Palestinian conflict and the situation between India and Pakistan – both nuclear armed countries and long-time rivals who claim the Kashmir region as their own.
He said Pakistan faces an “uphill task” in getting the UN to focus its attention on Kashmir.
“And whenever the issue of Kashmir is brought up, our friends within, with... our friend… our... our neighbouring, uh, countries, strongly object, vociferously object and they perpetuate a post-fact narrative where they try to claim that this is not a dispute for the United Nations, that this is not a disputed territory recognised for the international community,” Mr Zardari said.
A video of the minister’s comments has gone viral on social media.
Mr Zardari’s evident reluctance to call India a “friend” comes despite Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s apparent softening stance towards his rival neighbour.
Mr Sharif’s 34-year-old Pakistani foreign minister has in the past made many attempts to put the Jammu and Kashmir issue on the spotlight by raising it at nearly every UN platform.
He has made harsh comments critiquing India in the past, including a strong remark against the country’s prime minister Narendra Modi, where he dubbed Mr Modi as the “butcher of Gujarat”.
The remarks had caused a number of heated exchanges between the diplomats of the nuclear neighbours.
Ever since being split into two countries after achieving independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought wars and suffered strained ties.
The main contentious issue between them has been Jammu and Kashmir, where Delhi has been accused of numerous human-rights violations and Islamabad has been accused of fomenting terror and a proxy war by backing separatist militants.
Both countries claim the territory as their own.
The revoking of a seven-decade-long privileged status for Kashmir by India in 2019 had further exacerbated tensions.
Mr Zardari said drawing parallels between Kashmir and the Palestinian conflict was “very justified” as there are “many similarities between the plight of the people of Kashmir and the plight of the people of Palestine”.
“I think it’s fair to say that both issues remain unaddressed by the United Nations and we’d like to see an extra focus not only on Palestine but also on Kashmir,” he said.
In an interview with Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV in January, Mr Sharif had called for “serious and sincere talks” with Mr Modi on “burning points like Kashmir.”
Islamabad on Saturday, however, skipped the meeting of Chief Justices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which was scheduled in New Delhi, according to the Express Tribute.
“Due to his unavoidable commitments on the scheduled meeting dates, the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan will not be able to participate in the SCO meeting,” said a statement by the foreign office.
India has reportedly invited Pakistan’s foreign minister to attend the SCO ministers meeting to be held tentatively in May this year and Mr Sharif is expected to attend the subsequent main SCO summit in June.
>> SILLY STUPID statement made by a CLOWN who is out of his DEPTH ....
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