Pakistan boycotts India at SAARC session in New York

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi boycotted the speech of his Indian counterpart at the meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on Thursday, being held on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a statement, Qureshi said that he walked out from the ministerial conference of the SAARC – regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia – in protest against India’s scrapping of special rights of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) region and a consistent clampdown in the valley.

“India has to ensure the fundamental human rights of Kashmiris”.

“There will be no talks until India lifts the curfew and stop human rights violations in occupied Kashmir,” Qureshi said.