Vacate occupied Kashmir: India tells Pakistan

“Let me make it very clear to Pakistan that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so for eternity. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been active participants in the democratic processes at both the Central and state levels,’’ MP RK Singh on Tuesday said in his speech in the general debate of the 135th Assembly of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva. Responding to Pakistan earlier raising the issue of human rights violation in Kashmir, Singh blamed Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism itself as responsible for the situation in Kashmir. 

“Pakistan has raised the issue of UN Security Council resolutions. We would suggest Pakistan to first fulfill its primary obligation under the resolutions to vacate illegal occupation of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir,’’ the MP said.Describing Pakistan as the epicentre of global terrorism, he pointed out that Internationally proscribed terrorists and terror groups were freely roaming in Pakistan with impunity while the deep state in Pakistan was busy in diverting billions of dollars received as international aid for spreading terrorism globally. On the other hand, he said, the human rights violations in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were evident to all. These people had become victims of sectarian conflict, terrorism and extreme economic hardship due to Pakistan’s authoritarian and discriminatory policies in complete disregard of human rights, he said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that early settling of the Kashmir issue may prove to be ‘key’ to sustainable peace between India and Pakistan and tried to impress up on the UK National Security Advisor Sir Mark Lyall Grant that the world community needed to take note of the situation in the region.

Pakistan summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner and lodged a strong protest against ‘ceasefire violations’ along the Working Boundary, the Foreign Office said. Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh was summoned by the Director General (South Asia and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). A strong protest was lodged against the unprovoked ceasefire violations on October 23-24 by Indian forces in Phuklian and Chaprar Sectors in which 2 civilians were killed and six others were injured, Foreign Office said. “It was conveyed to the Indian side that it should investigate the incident and share the findings with Pakistan, instruct its troops to respect the Ceasefire in spirit, refrain from intentionally targeting the villages and maintain peace on the Working Boundary,” the statement said.