ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan says that it will not invite the speaker of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir assembly Kavinder Gupta to the 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPA) scheduled to be held in Islamabad from September 30 to October 8, 2015.
“We cannot invite speaker of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir assembly as it does not enjoy legitimate status,” the advisor to the prime minister on national security and foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz told media in Islamabad on Saturday evening.
The advisor said that the Jammu and Kashmir assembly represents a disputed territory which needs to be settled in the light of the United Nations resolutions.
The upcoming Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference will attract more than 500 participants including speakers, presiding officers, deputy presiding officers, parliamentarians as well as other important parliamentary stakeholders from across the 53 member states of the CPA to discuss and analyse global political issues and developments in the parliamentary context.
On Friday, the Indian media reported that India may boycott the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Islamabad to protest Pakistan’s decision not to extend invitation to speaker of the Srinagar-based assembly for the meeting.
In reply to a question about his upcoming visit to India, Sartaj Aziz said that both Pakistan and India have apprehensions and concerns on various issues which can only be sorted out on the negotiating table.
“We have not yet confirmed dates of the visit as we are finalizing our agenda of the talks,” he said.
The advisor said that he would raise the issue of Indian interference in Pakistan with his Indian counterpart.
