On Aug 14, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan’s High Commissioner to New Delhi Abdul Basit dedicated Independence Day to the freedom of Kashmiris, while both neighbours traded allegations of “unprovoked” cross-border firing along the working boundary.
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Commenting on India’s relationship with its neighbour, Jaishankar said, “Problem is that the terrorism issue has become so central to the relationship that it makes the relationship hard to grow”. “The statements of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt brought vast shame to the nation”.
Pakistan responded to this by saying that India is trying to “divert” the attention of the worldwide community for the unrest taking place in Kashmir.
The Congress Party has come out to supports the PM Modi’s remarks on Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
“Indian External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj voiced India’s concerns over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s India trip, Indian media reported”, the article said.
A day after Modi’s speech, Pakistan’s The News International said in an editorial on Tuesday: “The trouble is that both countries are in no mood for diplomacy at the time”. It is an indigenous movement for self determination, a right promised to the Kashmiris by the UN Security Council. “I also speak for the entire humanity -not just for India or other SAARC members – in urging that in no circumstances should terrorists be eulogised as martyrs”. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had promptly hit back accusing Sharif of advancing the “despicable design” of destabilising South Asia by exporting “dirty money and unsafe terrorists”. Pakistan is being immoral in case of Kashmir. “Let them focus on human rights violation, massacres and atrocities there”, he said. “The issue can not be treated just as a law and order problem”, he said.
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Furthermore, Bilawal said that Indian-held Kashmir was under curfew since many weeks and several innocent people of Kashmir have been mowed down by the Indian armed forces within last two months. Having seen India pursue a non-provocative approach to its exceedingly hard neighbour over all these years, the Independence Day speech will go down well with all those who have been wanting a more muscular approach.
