India and Pakistan have been engaged in a diplomatic back-and-forth to try to arrange talks between their foreign secretaries but they have yet to agree a date or specify the agenda.
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India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, its northernmost state of which Kashmir forms a part.
Speaking at the foreign correspondent’s club in Delhi, FS Jaishankar said that “Looking at the neighbourhood, we clearly face a unique challenge in respect to one country which is Pakistan”.
Briefing reporters, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said Jaishankar conveyed that he accepts his counterpart’s invitation to visit Islamabad but made it clear the discussions should focus first on the pressing aspects of the J&K situation flagged by him. “He (Modi) crossed the red line by talking about Balochistan”, said Nafees Zakaria, a spokesperson in Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mention of the Pakistan administered province in his Independence Day speech, reactions have been pouring ever since.
Pakistan has been actively pursuing the Kashmir issue at various forums at the United Nations, with Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi focusing on it in her statement at the General Assembly in a debate on human rights.
Ban Ki-moon condemns killing of Kashmiri protesters was posted in World of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on August 19, 2016 and was last updated on August 19, 2016.
The Pakistani reaction was in response to a tit for tat diplomatic move by Prime Minister Modi who dramatically altered his policy towards Pakistan by talking of atrocities committed by it in Balochistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
“The prime minister is going to take up this issue very seriously at the United Nations platform”, the FO spokesperson added.
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The immediate impact of the dip in relations will be felt at the upcoming SAARC foreign ministers’ meeting, with India’s FM Arun Jaitley unlikely to attend.
