NEW DELHI: India was dismissive of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s fresh letter to UN chief on Kashmir, saying any such move will not change the reality that part of Jammu and Kashmir is under Islamabad’s “illegal and forcible” occupation and that it has no locus standi to comment on internal situation in the Valley
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also criticised Pakistan’s decision to send 22 parliamentarians as special envoys to highlight the Kashmir issue on different international forums and said it would have been better to send “one envoy with the right message to the right country,” indicating that Islamabad should have sent a representative here to discuss cross-border terror.
“They can write as many letters as they want but this will not change the reality on the ground. The reality is that J&K is an integral part of India and part of J&K is under the illegal and forcible occupation of Pakistan. “As far as internal situation in J&K is concerned, we believe Pakistan has no locus standi in commenting on that and we are perfectly capable of dealing with it,” Swarup said. He was replying to a question on Sharif writing to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for the second time in a month seeking his intervention for sending a fact-finding mission to probe alleged human rights violations in the Valley. On Sharif’s decision to send envoys to various countries to highlight the Kashmir issue, he said the message has to be one of stopping support to cross-border terrorism, ending incitement to violence in Jammu and Kashmir and putting an end to interference in India’s internal affairs. “Sending out 22 envoys is not going to make their baseless and untenable claims legitimate. Instead of sending 22 Envoys with the wrong message to the wrong countries, it would have been better to send one Envoy with the right message to the right country,” he said. Asked about China-Pakistan economic corridor, Swarup said it passes through India’s sovereign territory under illegal occupation of Pakistan and that “India would obviously have concerns about any project there happening with third party collaboration.” On the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s comment that Pakistan was also a victim of terror, the MEA Spokesperson said India did not say it was not. “But we are asking who created that terror. That is the real issue. The thing that needs to be understood how did the victimisation start. “For us the real issue is that there should not be any differentiation between good terrorist and bad terroist and Kerry had clearly said that,” said Swarup. –PTI
