Disappointed with international community: Imran Khan admits failing to rake up Kashmir issue

Islamabad has been repeatedly snubbed by the international community on several platforms after it cried foul over India's abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, with many countries backing New Delhi on the matter.

New York: Admitting that Pakistan has failed in its attempts to internationalise the Kashmir issue, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that he is disappointed with the international community over the issue.

Pakistan has been repeatedly snubbed by the international community on several platforms after it cried foul over India's abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, with many countries backing New Delhi on the matter.

"(I am) Disappointed by the international community. If eight million Europeans or Jews or even eight Americans were put under siege, would the reaction have been the same? There's no pressure yet on Modi to lift the siege. We'll keep putting the pressure...What are 9,00,000 troops doing there? Once the curfew is lifted, god knows what is going to happen after that...You think Kashmiris will quietly accept that Kashmir has been annexed?" he stated at a presser in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pakistan's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi were also present at the presser with Khan.

Both Modi and Khan are currently in New York for the UNGA. The two Prime Ministers have also held separate bilaterals with US President Donald Trump, who renewed his offer to mediate between the two countries while underscoring that he'll only do so if asked by both the parties assent to it.

Khan also acknowledged India's economic stature and global prominence while responding to why Pakistan's narrative on Kashmir is being overlooked.

"The reason is India, people look upon India as a market of 1.2 billion people...Some are appalled by it but by the end of it, they think of it as a market," he said.

Even as the world community has respected India's decision in Kashmir, Pakistan has vowed to bring the topic up when Khan addresses the UNGA on Friday.

Earlier this month, Pakistani Interior Minister Brig Ijaz Ahmed Shah had admitted that Islamabad has failed to get support from the international community over its stand on the Kashmir issue. "People do not believe us but they believe them (India)," the minister had said.