Pakistan Interior Minister Brigadier Ijaz Ahmed Shah said on Wednesday that the world believes India, not Pakistan, on the Kashmir matter. He made the remark in an interview with Hum News.

“Who is responsible for earning this name, that people don’t believe us [Pakistan] in the international community?” Shah asked. “We say India has enforced a curfew in Kashmir, it is not providing medicines, is killing people, there is nothing to eat. People don’t believe us. They believe India, even though we are right.”

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Asked by the interviewer about who was responsible for this, Shah blamed the ruling elite of the country. “This is not the work of a single day,” he said. “Over a period of time ruling elite destroyed the country. The people thought we are not a responsible nation. That is what we are facing.”

Shah said, after being prompted, that all former leaders as well as its current Prime Minister Imran Khan were responsible for the problem. “It is very unfortunate that we worked hard, and we made the most sacrifices in the war on terror,” he added. “We became a frontline state. Around 80,000 of our people were martyred. Are we getting the same response from the world community? No. We must have a soul-searching. You [the media] should also think about it.”

The Indian government had on August 5 revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution. It also bifurcated the state into two Union territories, separating Ladakh out. The government imposed prohibitory orders in the state which is slowly being lifted.

On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said India and Pakistan should resolve the Kashmir problem through dialogue. On Tuesday, a team of Indian diplomats addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to explain New Delhi’s position on Jammu and Kashmir. They had said that Pakistan was trying to polarise the UN Human Rights Commission.

Pakistan, speaking before India, called for an international investigation into the situation in Kashmir. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who led the delegation from Islamabad, said the UN rights body must not remain “indifferent” and should not be embarrassed on the world stage by its inaction over the Kashmir dispute.

India’s response at the UNHRC meeting came a day after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in her opening remarks called upon India to end the lockdown in Kashmir.

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