Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser today left Istanbul for Belgrade, Serbia to attend the 141st Assembly of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU). The IPU Assembly will take place in Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia, on 13-17 October 2019. The Speaker and the Pakistan Parliamentary delegation will participate in the meetings of the Governing Council, Standing Committees, Committees of Parliamentarians on the Human Rights as well as the Forum of Women Parliamentarians and the Forum of Young MPs on that occasion. Speaker Asad Qaiser will draw attention of the IPU Fraternity towards heinous crimes against humanity in Indian Occupied Kashmir and to help the innocent people of the State in achieving their due right to self-determination, as pledged to them by the United Nations Security Council Resolutions. The Speaker will also take up the follow up of his letters written to Speakers/Presiding Officers of the IPU Member Parliaments in his meetings on sidelines of the IPU Assembly. He will formally meet Secretary General IPU for follow up of his demand conveyed vide his letter demanding dispatch of fact-finding mission to IOK comprising of IPU Member parliaments to report on the grave situation in the occupied valley. Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser had written letters to the Speakers and Presiding Officers of Inter-Parliamentary Union Member Parliaments drawing their attention towards the historic fraud, committed against the beleaguered people of the Indian Occupied State of Jammu and Kashmir (IOK) by the Indian Government. The Speaker during his stay in Istanbul attended the 3rd Conference of the Speakers of Parliaments. He had an informal meeting with President of Turkey Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and apprised him about the worsening situation in IOK. They also discussed the security threats faced by the region and the growing Islamophobia in the west. They agreed for enhancing connectivity and forging common strategy to address these issues. The 3rd Conference of Speakers was called for parliamentary discourse on Countering Terrorism and strengthening regional Connectivity within the region and was attended by the Speakers of National Peoples’ Congress of China, Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Speaker Wolesi Jirga of Afghanistan, State Duma of Russia and Majlis-e-Shoora Islami of Iran. The Speaker Asad Qaiser while addressing the opening and closing sessions of the Speakers Conference called on the international community to address the prevailing grave human rights and humanitarian situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJ&K) as well as to uphold the inalienable right to self-determination of the Kashmiris. The Speaker reiterated that being one of the biggest victims of terrorism, Pakistan was determined to root out the menace. He informed that Pakistan had rendered numerous sacrifices in the fight against terrorism and had successfully turned the tide against it. Terming connectivity as one of the foundation stones of the regional peace and prosperity, the Speaker highlighted the progress being made by Pakistan under the flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. He said that Pakistan would continue to take steps towards greater regional connectivity, including by making the Conference of the Speakers of the Parliaments on Countering Terrorism and Strengthening Regional Connectivity more effective and responsive to the regional needs. The conference, at its conclusion, endorsed the Islamabad and Tehran Declarations of 2017 and 2018 respectively, which among other things call for the resolution of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. The outcome document also underscored the need for all States to avoid politicization of the UN Sanctions regime as well as the work of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). ***
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