Foreign secretary Jaishankar `ll visit pak;Defence minister says going Pak is like ‘going hell’
NEW DELHI ; Responding to Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry’s invitation for talks on Kashmir issue, India’s Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar expressed his willingness to visit Islamabad but maintained that “Pakistan has no locus standi in addressing any aspect of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which is an internal matter of India.”
The response was handed over to Pakistan by Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale today (Wednesday). India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday told a rally that “going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell”, as Indian security forces killed five protesters and injured 10 others on Tuesday.Inp reported.
Parrikar went on to say that Indian troops had “sent back five terrorists yesterday”, referring to the gunmen who were reportedly killed while attempting a cross-border incursion on Monday.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry on Monday invited his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar for dialogue on the Kashmir dispute.
The move came as relations between Pakistan and India remain strained a day after ceasefire violations along the Line of Control on August 14.
Clashes erupted on Tuesday after crowds angered by the killing of a militant in Kashmir pelted them with stones and defied a curfew, an officials claimed.
Occupied Kashmir has witnessed violent protests since July 8, when security forces killed a field commander of militant group Hizbul Mujahideen who enjoyed widespread support in the Muslim-majority region.
Kashmir also saw an upsurge in violence around India’s Independence Day holiday on Monday — which was observed as Black Day by Kashmiris — when Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India would not bow to terrorism and accused neighbour and arch-rival Pakistan of glorifying it.
The latest casualties came as security forces opened fire with automatic rifles, a step up from their earlier use of shotguns, whose pellets are meant to incapacitate but not kill.
Locals say the shotguns have inflicted severe injuries, and even blinded, hundreds of people, among them innocent bystanders.Know more: Modi is obfuscating held Kashmir’s reality by bringing up Balochistan
Indian troops killed a total of seven militants on Monday in two incidents, five of them gunmen who had allegedly attempted a cross-border incursion and two more, who had attacked a Srinagar police station.
One officer died in the police station shootout.At least 64 people have been killed and thousands injured during 39 days of protests, while schools, shops, banks and offices remain closed in much of Kashmir as paramilitary troops patrol arterial roads, residential areas and mosques.
Mean while Responding to Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry’s invitation for talks on Kashmir issue, India s Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar expressed his willingness to visit Islamabad but maintained that “Pakistan has no locus standi in addressing any aspect of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which is an internal matter of India.”
The response was handed over to Pakistan by Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale today (Wednesday).
“Since aspects related to cross-border terrorism are central to the current situation in J&K, we have proposed that discussions between the foreign secretaries be focused on them,” stated an Indian government source according to Indian media.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is reviewing India‘s response.
Pakistan on Monday invited India for talks on Kashmir, saying it is the “international obligation” of both the countries to resolve the issue, notwithstanding India’s insistence that it would talk on “contemporary and relevant” issues in Indo-Pak relations.
“The letter highlights the international obligation of both the countries, India and Pakistan, to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolutions,” the statement said.
The invitation was extended amid tension in bilateral ties due to the war of words between the two nations over the issue.
Indian Occupied Kashmir has been under curfew since protests erupted over the death last month of a popular young freedom fighter, Burhan Wani, in a gunfight with Indian security forces.
More than 70 civilians have been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces, and thousands more injured in the worst violence to hit the Himalayan region since 2010.
Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan along a UN-monitored line of control, but both claim it in full and have fought two wars over its control.
Freedom fighters have battled Indian security forces in Kashmir since 1989 for the independence of the region or for it to be made part of Pakistan. The conflict has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.
