From Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif today met his top commanders and said the military was “watchful” towards the security imperatives of the country in the wake of “hostile narrative” by India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir.

The Corps Commanders’ Conference – held in Rawalpindi and chaired by Gen Sharif – reviewed external and internal security situation and operational preparedness of the army, the army said in a statement.

“Taking note of a hostile narrative being propagated by India, COAS (Gen Sharif) said that we are fully cognizant and closely watching the latest happenings in the region and their impact on the security of Pakistan,” the statement said.

“Armed forces of Pakistan are fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat,” he said, expressing his satisfaction over operational preparedness of the army.

“Pakistan’s armed forces together with our resilient nation have surmounted every challenge and will thwart any sinister design against integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan in future as well,” Gen Sharif said during the meeting.

Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir’s Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised.

It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years.

India’s DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group.

Sharif writes to P5 countries over ‘dire situation’ in Kashmir

From Sajjad Hussain
Islamabad:Ahead of his address to the UN General Assembly, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has written to the permanent members of the Security Council over the Kashmir issue saying it is a “constant source of tension and instability” posing a threat to world peace and security.

Sharif has written to the Heads of Government/State of China, France, Russia, the UK and the US regarding “grave human rights violations” in Kashmir, Foreign Office (FO) said today.

“The letters emphasise the extremely negative implications of the dire situation in Kashmir, on regional, as well as international peace and security,” it said in a statement.

Sharif wrote the “non-resolution of the Kashmir issue is a constant source of tension and instability in the region and a threat to international peace and security”.

Last week, Sharif met Hurriyat leaders from Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK) and had assured them that he would “emphatically highlight” the Kashmir issue at the 71st session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

Highlighting the ‘violations’ of international human rights and humanitarian laws in Kashmir, Sharif in his letters asked the permanent members of the Security Council to fulfill their responsibility with regard to the Kashmir issue, which he said is one of the oldest internationally recognised unresolved disputes on the agenda of the UNSC.

Despite the passage of more than 68 years since the adoption of multiple resolutions, the people of Jammu and Kashmir still await the implementation of these resolutions which promised them the right to self-determination to be exercised through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, he wrote.

Sharif urged the permanent members of the Security Council to call upon the Indian government to immediately stop the bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir and honour its human rights obligations as well as its commitments to the Kashmiri people.

India raises with Venezuela Pakistan’s Kashmir comments at NAM

Porlamar (Venezuela):India has raised with Venezuelan leadership the issue of “flagrant misuse” of NAM plenary by Pakistan to make “unwarranted and unacceptable” comments on Kashmir, saying South Asia suffers from Pakistan’s “dangerous use” of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

In a strongly-worded letter to the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, External Affairs Minister for State M J Akbar said the South Asia continues to face Pakistan’s “dangerous use” of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

He also said that Pakistan has continued to provide safe havens to internationally designated terrorists and terror outfits.

Pakistan Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, in his NAM address as the Pakistan delegation head, had said, “peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council”.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has condemned the Uri attack and expressed solidarity with Indian people.

Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir’s Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised.

In his message, Maduro said, “we are committed along with our brotherly people of the world to get into the depth of this problem that generated proliferation of terrorist movement, which does not respect life and the need for co- existence of people.” PTI