Prime Minister Khan's UN Visit To Be 'very Kashmir Centric': Bukhari Tells Newsweek

Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit upcoming visit to New York as leader of the Pakistan delegation to the 74th session of the UN General Assembly would be "very Kashmir centric" revolving around India's decision last month to annex the disputed state and the ongoing human rights abuses there, his senior aide has said

NEW YORK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Sep, 2019 ) :Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit upcoming visit to New York as leader of the Pakistan delegation to the 74th session of the UN General Assembly would be "very Kashmir centric" revolving around India's decision last month to annex the disputed state and the ongoing human rights abuses there, his senior aide has said.

Speaking to Newsweek, a mass-circulation American magazine, Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, special assistant to the prime minister for overseas Pakistanis and human resource development, said PM Khan's goal was to raise awareness about "the genocide and the ethnic cleansing going on" in Indian occupied Kashmir. He said Pakistan has had success in gaining support at the international level, with nations like China, Turkey, Malaysia and Iran speaking out on the issue.

In the interview, Bukhari also said that, if left unchecked by the international community, the fallout of India's move to scrap the special status of Kashmir could lead to a nuclear conflict between the two countries.

Asked if he was concerned that another major conflict could erupt between the neighbours as the situation in India-occupied Kashmir deteriorated, Bukhari said, "Absolutely." "We're extremely concerned that this could snowball into a nuclear war, you have two nuclear countries," Bukhari told Newsweek. "We're extremely worried about an escalation." Newsweek'a dispatch, based on Bukhari's interview, gave background to the deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan, noting also US President Donald Trump's offer to mediate the Kashmir dispute, something welcomed by Prime Minister Khan but rejected by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who claimed that it was strictly a bilateral issue. It then pointed to India's move last month to repeal Articles 370 and 35a, revoking the special autonomous status afforded to occupied Kashmir, and sending it swaths of security forces to crack down on the restive region.

Amnesty International India and the United Nations Human Rights Office have since described desperate living conditions in India-occupied Kashmir, as have Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and Pakistani Ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed Khan.

Now, Bukhari said, "it's gone from bad to worse" as Modi has "put everyone on a 24/7 lockdown." The dispatch noted that a media blackout has limited the capabilities of local and international outlets to cover the situation, but persistent reports have emerged of "state-sponsored violence and arbitrary detentions". It also noted the arrest of former India-Occupied Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah for "disturbing public order" since early last month in what Amnesty International India called "a blatant abuse of the law by the Indian government and latest in the series of human rights violations taking place in Kashmir." "The continuation of draconian laws against political dissidents despite promises of change signals a dishonest intent on part of the Indian Government," the organization said in a statement sent to Newsweek, describing the Public Safety Act as having "a long history of being misused" in India-administered Kashmir.

"It has been more than 40 days since Kashmir has been under a blackout," the statement added.

"Thousands of political leaders, activists and journalists continue to be silenced through administrative detention laws which run counter to international human rights standards." Bukhari told Newsweek that Pakistan exhausted its attempts to reach out to India diplomatically and Modi's recent move proved the final straw. "If I'm going to be completely honest, we were calling up until the last minute, we're anti-war, when we stopped calling was when they repealed the articles and the atrocities began in Kashmir." As for the U.S., Trump was set to meet with both prime ministers -- Modi and Khan -- in the same week as part of his many anticipated engagements on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Bukhari expressed confidence, saying Trump "has a very good relationship with our leader ... they're both unconventional politicians, they're both straight-shooters." In response to Trump's move to appear with Modi at a rally in Houston, Texas, , Bukhari said he wouldn't "read into that too much." He deemed it more of an election strategy on the president's part, explaining "I don't think we need to be worried that's it's anti-Kashmir, or anti-people of Kashmir or anti-Pakistan." "Obviously it hurts us, but that's more of an emotion," Bukhari told Newsweek.

Bukhari described India's allegation of interference in Kashmir as "an old, stale narrative." He argued: "Khan has only stood for peace, we have our own problems, our economy, we're trying to rebuild our country, how could we be interested in terrorists moving across borders when we're promoting tourism?" "It's becoming such a boring argument, and it doesn't hold any weight. Maybe it did in the past, but not with this government. All these things we're doing to promote Pakistan, it sets us back," he added. "It makes zero sense what they're saying about terrorism because it affects us most." Bukhari explained there was major concern in Pakistan as to a potential "retaliation" after the lockdown ends. "What we're fearing is the instability not only in India-occupied Kashmir, but to the region as a whole, these people have been beaten and raped what do you think they're going to do? If Modi thinks they're going to just return to their ordinary lives, he's seriously mistaken." With tensions already flaring, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyan Jaishankar said at a news conference Tuesday that "Pakistan-administered Kashmir is part of India and we expect one day that we will have physical jurisdiction over it." Bukhari echoed previous statements from PM Khan in suggesting the possibility of a false flag attack staged by India and blamed on Pakistan. He said "our forces are on high alert and are mobilized, so if, God forbid, there was an attack from India, we are ready, but what certainly what we're trying to do is address this on an international level and avoid that. No one wants a war between these two countries." Asked if he was optimistic about the situation being resolved peacefully, Bukhari told Newsweek: "Look, I guess we have to have faith, right? Otherwise, what else are we doing here? We hope that the Kashmiri people's prayers are heard."