Dream of 'peaceful South Asia' can't be realised until Kashmir is solved, Qureshi tells Pompeo.

Byline: Naveed Siddiqui

Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington to discuss the situation in the Middle East and take up India's continuing human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.

Qureshi is on the final leg of his tri-state visit aimed at diffusing US-Iran tensions, as instructed by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He informed Pompeo about the ongoing human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir, saying eight million people in the occupied region have been "kept confined" through a curfew imposed by New Delhi for the past five months, a Foreign Office statement said.

See: India's clampdown in occupied Kashmir has crossed 150 days - here's everything you need to know

Qureshi noted that a communications blackout in the valley remains in place in order "to conceal the facts from the world's view".

"The dream of a 'peaceful South Asia' of the US and Pakistan cannot be realised until the Kashmir dispute is resolved in accordance with United Nations resolutions and through a plebiscite of eight million Kashmiris," the FO quoted Qureshi as saying.

Tensions between Pakistan and India had spiked after New Delhi revoked occupied Kashmir's special status in August last year.

Qureshi's remarks come a day after the situation in occupied Kashmir was reviewed at a meeting of the UN Security Council.

Prime Minister Imran had welcomed the UNSC meeting, vowing that Pakistan "will continue to provide moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people until they secure their inalienable right to self-determination".

'Pakistan desires...