STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will maintain a close contact on recent regional developments including USIran tensions and President Trump’s Middle East ‘peace plan’, the Foreign Office said on Saturday. The understanding was reached during a telephonic conversation between Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan, FO spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said in a statement. “The two foreign ministers reaffirmed the strategic importance of the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relationship and reiterated the shared resolve to deepen bilateral cooperation in diverse fields,” the FO spokesperson said in today’s statement. Foreign Minister Qureshi, during the conversation, also appreciated Saudi Arabia’s steadfast support for the Kashmir cause, including as a key member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir. “Views were exchanged on working together to advance the Kashmir cause, including from the OIC platform,” Farooqui maintained. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday reiterated Pakistan’s political and moral support for the oppressed people of Indian-Occupied Kashmir in their struggle for the right to self-determination. While addressing a meeting with parliamentary leaders of Azad Kashmir in Islamabad, FM Qureshi said that Pakistan has made extensive efforts to highlight the gross human rights violations in the occupied valley by Indian government at the diplomatic level. “Kashmir issue is present at the agenda of the UN Security Council, but our effort to move the Security Council again was aimed at highlighting the Kashmir issue afresh and get Pakistan’s stance reiterated, “the FM said. “We got success at the Security Council and the Kashmir issue was discussed.” The foreign minister stressed that the Human Rights Council in Geneva had also been apprised of the Indian atrocities in the besieged region. He added that the issue had also been debated at European Union Parliament and the United States Congress. “The Kashmir Cell established at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the direction of the prime minister is playing its effective role to highlight the Kashmir issue,” Qureshi said. Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider lauded Pakistan’s efforts to highlight the Kashmir issue and thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
