Taking strong exception to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s provocative statements on Jammu & Kashmir after the abrogation of J&K special status under Article 370, India on Thursday condemned “highly irresponsible” statements by the Pakistani leadership and said the neighbour is using terrorism as a State policy. This comes after Khan talked about a nuclear war between the two countries and announced to raise the Kashmir issue at every international forum, including the UN.
Making New Delhi’s stand clear, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Pakistan has been using terrorism as state policy against India and it must stop exporting terror. “We strongly condemn highly irresponsible statements by Pakistani leadership on matters internal to India,” he said.
“The provocative statements from Pakistan include call for jehad and inciting violence in India,” Kumar said. The Pakistani Prime Minister has been consistently attacking India on its decisions on J&K in the last three weeks.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during a visit to Leh on Thursday said Pakistan should stop “crying” unnecessarily over India’s decision to end special status of J&K and instead focus on dismantling terror infrastructure operating from its soil. He also said Islamabad does not have any locus standi on J&K and it must stop interfering in India’s internal affairs.
In his first visit to this strategically key region after the Government’s decision on J&K, the Defence Minister said Pakistan should now focus on gross violations of human rights in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (POK), including in Gilgit-Baltistan.
In New Delhi, rejecting Pakistan’s contention on J&K, Kumar said a Pakistani Minister’s letter to the UN on J&K — which became controversial because it referred to comments by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar — was “not worth the paper it was written on”.
“We condemn the irresponsible remarks and tweets by Pakistani leaders on matters internal to India,” said the Spokesperson referring to some Ministers making threats following the Government’s decision to end special status to J&K and split it into two Union Territories.
Kumar said the statements included an apparent reference to “Jehad within the territory of India to incite violence”.
Pakistan Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Wednesday “predicted” war between the neighbours in “October or November”.
“The main motive behind this is to form an alarming situation for India which is far from ground realities. Pakistan needs to understand that they have been snubbed from all sides. The world has seen their provocative and unsubstantiated rhetoric based on lies and deceit,” he said.