US to press India on Kashmir rights, political prisoners’ release

Speaking at the weekly press briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would begin a four-day official visit to China on Saturday.

He said the visit would reaffirm the strength of the Pakistan-China all-weather strategic partnership and advance the shared vision of building a closer community with a shared future.

During the visit, the prime minister will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. The two sides are expected to review bilateral cooperation in political, economic and strategic sectors, with particular focus on trade, investment, industrial cooperation, agricultural modernisation, information technology, science and technology, and people-to-people exchanges.

The prime minister will begin his visit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, where he will chair the Pakistan-China Business-to-Business Investment Conference covering IT, telecom, energy, energy storage and agriculture.

In Beijing, he will attend a reception hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China.

Andrabi said the visit was expected to deepen political trust, enhance strategic coordination and expand practical cooperation between the two countries.

The spokesperson also recalled the martyrdom anniversaries of Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq in 1990 and Abdul Gani Lone in 2002, stating that both leaders were martyred by Indian occupation forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

He said Pakistan also remembered the 70 Kashmiris who were martyred while carrying the coffin of Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq during funeral processions.

He stressed that the lack of accountability for the gruesome killing of innocent Kashmiris and their leaders remains a festering injustice and a chilling example of the brazen impunity that defines the deplorable human rights situation in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He urged the international community, human rights organisations and the United Nations to take notice of the dire human rights and humanitarian situation in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and hold India accountable for its reprehensible conduct. He urged the UN to ensure a just solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with the relevant UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

Responding to a question about TADA cases against All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader Muhammad Yasin Malik and whether US President Donald Trump could play a role in securing the release of Kashmiri prisoners, Andrabi said Pakistan remained deeply concerned over politically motivated cases against Kashmiri leaders.

He accused India of misusing its judiciary to pursue political vendetta against the Kashmiri leadership and called for the release of all Kashmiri prisoners, human rights defenders and civil society activists detained in IIOJK.

“The international community, including the United States, must play a constructive role by urging India to stop human rights abuses and release all political prisoners,” he said.

The spokesperson further said that India’s involvement in promoting terrorism in Pakistan was well documented. He also expressed concern over the recurring incidents of extraterritorial killings linked to foreign terrorist networks.

“This pattern reflects the extremist ideology associated with its violence proponent, and India cannot subsume the legitimate freedom struggle in illegally occupied Kashmir”, Andrabi added.

On the Indus Waters Treaty dispute, Andrabi rejected India’s dismissal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s supplemental award issued on May 15.

He said India’s rejection carried “no political or legal value” and described Pakistan’s position as legally sound under the treaty framework.

“The mechanism was constituted under the Indus Waters Treaty, and its awards are final and binding,” he said, adding that India’s refusal to participate could not invalidate lawful proceedings.