FILE PHOTO: A Kashmiri man drinks tea in front of a closed shop in Srinagar
India on Thursday said that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and no amount of questioning can change the reality, an assertion that came following a letter by the Pakistan Foreign Minister to two top UN officials alleging a design by New Delhi to change the demographic structure of the region.
Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi also said that no amount of justification can make cross-border terrorism acceptable.
“The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. No amount of questioning can change the reality. Also, cross border terrorism is unacceptable and no amount of justification can make it acceptable,” he said at a media briefing.
Bagchi was asked to comment on Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s latest letter to the President of the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations Secretary-General.
In the letter, Qureshi alleged that India was changing the demographic structure of Kashmir through the issuance of fake domicile certificates and other measures.
He urged the UN Security Council to call upon India to reverse its actions, including those initiated on and after August 5, 2019.
Ties between India and Pakistan nosedived after a terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by terror groups based in the neighbouring country. Subsequent attacks on an Indian Army camp in Uri further deteriorated the relationship.
Since then, India has not been having bilateral talks with Pakistan, saying talks and terror cannot go hand-in-hand.
The relationship further dipped after India’s warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan on February 26, 2019, in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.
The relationship hit rock bottom after India announced withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir’s special powers and bifurcating the state into two union territories in August 2019.
Since then, Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to rally international support against India on the Kashmir issue.
India has been maintaining that the onus is on Pakistan to create an environment free of terror and hostility.
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