India today rejected Pakistan’s proposal to hold Foreign Secretary-level talks on Kashmir and asserted that it would like to discuss aspects related to cross-border terrorism which are central to the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir. India has always denied its role in Balochistan’s insurgency.
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“Today I can say that in such short time, more than 20 million toilets have been built in India’s villages and more than 70,000 are free of open defecation”, Mr Modi said to loud applause. And finally, the United Nations must ask Pakistan to first stop cross-border terrorism. Separately, Musadiq Malik, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s spokesman, said Modi wanted to “divert the attention from Indian atrocities in Kashmir by bring up the Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan issues”.
His death has plunged the Kashmir Valley into its worst unrest in over six years, while India has accused Pakistan of instigating the violence.
Amid the strained ties with neighbouring Pakistan, Defence Minster Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said “going to Pakistan was like going to hell”. There will be occasional wars and low intensity conflicts between India and Pakistan, but there is no chance of a prolonged battle as many war hawks on both the sides think.
Remarks by Dawn, Pakistan’s oldest English daily, added by stating Modi’s language seemed “aggressive”; and his comments came a breach of “diplomatic norms”. But all this does not justify Pakistan’s interference in India’s domestic matters.
Kashmir has been a contentious issue for both nations and Modi has taken a strong stance on this issue by bringing up Pakistan’s alleged involvement in domestic and worldwide terrorism.
As a matter of fact, the successive Prime Ministers of India have never touched upon the sensitive issue of Balochistan.
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The PM’s speech would have struck Gold if there was a medal for the “most boring” public speech at Olympics, the Aam Aadmi Party said yesterday. “We had extended our hand for friendship and peace”, Singh said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to reach out to the neighbouring country. There may be some truth in that, but it also goes to prove that when it comes to human rights violation, Pakistan has no moral ground to point fingers at its eastern neighbour. And Pakistan on July 20 observed a “black day” to “condemn” the violence in Kashmir.
