Pakistan will raise the human rights issue in Jammu and Kashmir with External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna during his visit to the country later this month, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday.
The issue of Jammu and Kashmir and alleged human rights violations there will figure in talks to be held with Mr. Krishna when he visits Pakistan on July 15, Mr. Qureshi told reporters during a function in his hometown of Multan.
“We have raised our voice about the human rights violations there and we will continue to do so. When the Indian Foreign Minister comes here soon, that will be the proper occasion to direct his attention towards the incidents occurring in Srinagar and the (Kashmir) valley,” Mr. Qureshi said in response to a question.
In his address at the function, Mr. Qureshi said the two new nuclear reactors to be built in Pakistan with the Chinese assistance will be open to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The pact between the two countries for the reactors is above board and can be examined by world bodies if required, he said.
“This government successfully has negotiated two nuclear power plants with China and there has been talk about international observation. But mind you, we will succeed because the way we have gone about it is the internationally acceptable way,” he said.
“Those (two new) plants would be open to IAEA inspection,” Mr. Qureshi said.
He maintained that Pakistan’s nuclear assets are secure and that no incident had ever occurred with regard to the nuclear programme that could risk human life.
Pakistan has concluded pacts with China for the new nuclear plants and with Iran for a multi billion dollar gas pipeline to meet its growing energy needs, Mr. Qureshi said.
“Despite a lot of pressures and difficulties, we successfully negotiated (the gas pipeline project with Iran),” he said.
Mr. Qureshi said the Foreign Office contributed in “convincing the Iranians to go ahead with Pakistan bilaterally” on the pipeline, which was originally envisaged as a trilateral project involving India.
Referring to the existing Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement, he said the pact is over 40 years old.
A new treaty is in the offing and an inter-ministerial committee has completed 90 per cent of the work in this regard, he said.
