Tags
IANS/Islamabad
Pakistan broke protocol by not inviting the speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly for a Commonwealth meeting here, India’s envoy here TCA Raghavan has said.
The Dawn newspaper yesterday quoted Raghavan as saying at a book release function here on Saturday night that Pakistan had invited delegations from Jammu and Kashmir in the past.
India has said it won’t attend the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference if Pakistan does not invite Jammu and Kashmir Speaker Kavinder Gupta, the high commissioner said.
The conference is to be held in Islamabad from September 30 to October 8. India has demanded that the venue be shifted to some other country.
Speaking at the venue, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz said his country would never invite a Jammu and Kashmir Speaker as the legislature “does not enjoy legitimate status”.
“We cannot invite the speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly as the assembly does not enjoy legitimate status because it represents a disputed territory, which needs to be settled in the light of the UN resolutions,” he was quoted as saying by state-run Radio Pakistan.
Pakistan’s position on Jammu and Kashmir would be compromised if the speaker of the “Kashmir’s legislature is invited to the conference”, Aziz said.
The conference would go ahead as scheduled as over 70% delegates have confirmed their participation, he added.
There are no comments.
SPORT Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when you are saying farewell to those that have left a positive impression. That was the case earlier this month when Canada hosted Mexico in a friendly at BC Place stadium in Vancouver.
TECHNOLOGY Some 60mn primary-school-age children have no access to formal education
CULTURE Lekhwiya’s El Arabi scores the equaliser after Tresor is sent off; Tabata, al-Harazi score for QSL champions
ARABIA The Yemeni Minister of Tourism, Dr Mohamed Abdul Majid Qubati, yesterday expressed hope that the 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen declared by the Command of Coalition Forces on Saturday will be maintained in order to lift the siege imposed on Taz City and ease the entry of humanitarian aid to the besieged
ARABIA Some 200 teachers from schools across the country attended Qatar Museum’s (QM) first ever Teachers Council at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) yesterday.
ARABIA The Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) of Qatar and the Indonesian Supreme Court (SCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on judicial co-operation, it was announced yesterday.
ECONOMY Sri Lanka is keen on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar as part of government policy to shift to clean energy, Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem has said.
