Islamabad: Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said that the United States Department of State did not take a clear position on the recent incident of Indian violation of Pakistani airspace by launching a projectile into Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference, the foreign minister urged India to provide information regarding the specification, route, and trajectory of the missile.
He questioned why India remained silent until Pakistan demanded an answer, adding that the aftermath of the missile could trigger a war between two nuclear-armed countries.
The foreign minister termed India’s investigation on the matter as “insufficient” and mentioned that China had also raised the issue and called for an investigation.
Qureshi mentioned his telephonic conversation with the United Nations Secretary-General about the Indian missile fired towards Pakistan, where concern was expressed on the situation.
He said he had also written a letter to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council in this regard.
The Minister said Pakistan had no aggressive designs against any country, however, stressed that it would continue to highlight the issue of acts of terrorism against it.
Moreover, Qureshi said Pakistan would act as a bridge to promote unity among the Muslim countries and contribute towards finding a way together on common issues facing the Islamic world.
He mentioned that Pakistan believed that the meeting was being held at a crucial time, adding that “we need to make the Muslim voice heard at the international arena”.
“Pakistan wants to promote unity among Muslims on this occasion and address other issues, particularly Islamophobia and hate speech,” he said, ahead of the OIC meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers (OIC-CFM) on March 22-24.
Qureshi mentioned that so far, 48 confirmations had been received from the OIC member countries and added that 100 resolutions were expected to be tabled and agreed upon during the OIC-CFM meeting.
The proposed theme of the 48th session, “Partnering for Unity, Justice and Development” fully encapsulates these priorities. We will seek to build partnerships across the Islamic world, and build bridges of cooperation to address the myriad of challenges confronting the Ummah,” he said.
Qureshi said the OIC had taken a very firm stand on the issue of Palestine and Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. A meeting of the Kashmir Contact Group will also be held on the sidelines of the OIC-CFM meeting, where Pakistan would present observational reports on Kashmir, he said.
“Pakistan intends to get a ministerial resolution passed on the issue of IoK,” he said. APP
