Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday said that his government was using “quiet diplomacy” to express its concerns over the treatment of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province.
“It is not necessary to condemn everything publicly,” the foreign minister said while speaking at a ceremony at the Institution of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi.
Exiled Uighur activists in November 2019 released evidence of nearly 500 camps and prisons being used against the ethnic group in China, saying the overall number of inmates could be “far greater” than the one million usually cited.
Beijing initially denied their existence when news of these camps first emerged in 2017.
Later, it claimed they were “voluntary” vocational centres aimed at combating extremism by teaching people Mandarin and job skills.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government has been reluctant to comment on alleged human rights violations in China.
“At the moment, I don’t know enough about it and if I have we will speak to the Chinese privately,” PM Khan told BBC in an interview last week.
PM Khan’s government has been struggling to stabilize the country’s economy since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf came to power in 2018.
Foreign Minister Qureshi, however, said the government’s policies had a positive impact on the economy and Pakistan’s share in the world export had increased from 0.6% to 0.12%. He added that his government had also managed to shore up the country’s foreign reserves.
The minister said that it was important to open Pakistan for the world and the government had devised policies to facilitate foreign investors, he added.
Qureshi said Pakistan has been declared a leading tourist destination and the government is encouraging foreign investors to invest in the country’s tourism sector.
He said they are seeking assistance from Turkey and Malaysia to strengthen the tourism sector in Pakistan.
Commenting on India’s ongoing crackdown on people of occupied Kashmir, the foreign minister said the Indian government had deprived Kashmiris of their fundamental rights.
New Delhi is being criticized for implementing RSS designs in Kashmir and their image of a shining India has become that of an intolerant India, he added.
