India has slammed Pakistan for trying to fan the fire on Kashmir by making political statements both at the United Nations and other international fora, and snubbed Islamabad for trying to interfere in its internal matters.
Responding to Pakistan’s unwanted comments on Kashmir in the wake of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, India said Islamabad was not only infiltrating terrorists but also fanning discontent within the Valley by providing support to terrorist outfits. India has also accused Pakistan of using terrorism as a State policy and extolling virtues of terrorists.
“It is a self-serving exercise for narrow political ends. let me make three very clear points. Terrorism is terrorism. No amount of justification on Pakistan’s part is going to change it. Our internal affairs are solely ours to handle. Any effort by any other party, claiming it as theirs or trying to interfere and seeking to internationalise the issue, will not change it. The world today has a clear view of which country in our region covets the territory of others, uses terrorism as a matter of state policy, provides sanctuary to UN-designated terrorists and terrorist groups and violates human rights,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup while responding to questions on Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif convening a Cabinet meeting to
discuss the situation in Kashmir and Pakistani Foreign Office briefing Ambassadors of China, France, Russia, the UK and the United States.
Swarup added that as far as dialogue with Pakistan is concerned, India has never shied away from talks. “However, it is incumbent on Pakistan to create the right atmosphere for a productive dialogue to take place. Talks and terror cannot go hand in hand,” he said.
Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale was summoned to the Foreign Office on July 11, and a strong demarche was made on the situation on Kashmir. “Our High Commissioner stated that India rejects the demarche. For the same reason that this is a domestic issue, internal to India, we see no reason to involve Pakistan, which has no locus standi in the matter,” Swarup said, making it clear that India has no interest in calling High Commissioner of Pakistan Abdul Basit and discuss any issue pertaining to Kashmir with him.
Meanwhile, in New York, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin slammed Pakistan’s effort to internationalize the Kashmir issue.
Participating in a high-level thematic debate on ‘UN@70 Human Rights at the centre of the global agenda, Akbaruddin said, “Regrettably, earlier today, we have seen an attempt at misuse of this UN platform by Pakistan, a country that covets the territory of others; a country that uses terrorism as a State policy towards that misguided end; a country that extols the virtues of terrorists and that provides sanctuary to UN-designated terrorists; and a country that masquerades its efforts as support for human rights and self-determination.”
Akbaruddin further said, “Pakistan is the same country whose track record has failed to convince the international community on giving membership of the Human Rights Council in this very Session of the UNGA. The international community has long seen through such designs. Cynical attempts, like the one this morning, therefore, find no resonance in this forum or elsewhere in the United Nations.”