Aizaz Chaudhary reminded the Indian Foreign Affairs Secretary that tracing out the solution of the Kashmir issue was the obligation of both countries according to the resolutions of the United Nations Organisation (UNO).
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The verbal battle sparked off as Prime Minister Modi, in his Independence Day speech in New Delhi on Monday, clearly slammed Pakistan and said there is a difference between those people who were brought up under the influence of humanism and those who reward terrorism.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made no direct reference to the situation in India-administered Kashmir in his annual Independence Day speech but made a general appeal for an end to violence, adding that India “will never tolerate terrorism”.
Rebuffing Pakistan’s proposal of sending supplies to the restive State, India also said it along with other countries in the region have already received enough of “trademark exports” from that country, including terrorism and infiltrators. “It is an indigenous movement for self determination, a right promised to the Kashmiris by the UN Security Council”, it said. “From the ramparts of the Red Fort, I want to express my gratitude to some people – the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied-Kashmir – for the way they whole-heartedly thanked me, the way they expressed gratitude to me, the way they conveyed their goodwill to me recently”, he said.
Modi’s remarks directed at Pakistan overshadowed comments in his Independence Day address in which he touted his government’s achievements in rural electrification, financial inclusion and health provision.
“Modi’s statement is meant as much for Beijing as for Islamabad”, journalist Prashant Jha wrote in an opinion piece for Indian newspaper Hindustan Times.
The army also said it had foiled an infiltration attempt from Pakistan into North Kashmir, killing three militants.
Earlier, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri had dismissed Prime Minister Modi’s assertion that the province was suffering from repression and accused India of fomenting trouble there.
Zehri, while addressing a ceremony in the provincial capital of Quetta to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day, said there was no comparison between Balochistan and Kashmir.
The commander was critically injured in an ambush in Srinagar’s Nowhatta locality and later died in hospital while two militants were killed in a shootout that followed the attack, an officer of India’s Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) told AFP.
“India is behind terrorism, militancy and anti-peace activities in Balochistan”, he alleged.
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Both India and Pakistan rule Kashmir in part but claim it in full.
