Pakistan raises Kashmir at CICA Summit in Kazakhstan, India hits back

As Pakistan raised the topic of Kashmir at a regional summit in Kazakhstan on Thursday, Minister of State (MoS) for external affairs Meenakshi Lekhi called on the country to immediately end the cross-border terrorism so that conditions for any dialogue could be created. Addressing the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures (CICA) Summit in Kazakhstan’s Astana, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif accused India of committing atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

“Pakistan must immediately cease anti-India cross-border terrorism and shut down its infrastructure of terrorism,” she said, adding, “Pakistan is thereby advised to walk the talk by creating a conducive atmosphere, including by taking credible, verifiable and irreversible actions to not allow any territory under its control to be used for cross-border terrorism against India in any manner.”

MoS Meenakshi Lekhi, who was representing India at the CICA Summit, hit back at Pakistan saying that it had again misused the CICA platform to “propagate false and malicious propaganda” against India. Meenakshi Lekhi said Pakistan was distracting the members from the focus.

Meenakshi Lekhi said, “The union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been and will remain an integral part of India. Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on India’s internal affairs.”

Meenakshi Lekhi said Pakistan PM’s remarks were “gross interference in India’s internal affairs, sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

The MoS also called on Pakistan to put an end to the “grave and persistent human rights violations in Pakistan-occupied Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh”. She also said that Pakistan should also “vacate the Indian territories that are under its illegal and forcible occupation.”

Meenakshi Lekhi said, “Pakistan is the global epicentre of terrorism and continues to be the source of terrorist activities, including in India. Pakistan continues to make no investment in human development but provides their resources for creating and sustaining infrastructure of terrorism.”

"Terrorism remains the biggest challenge and threat to our peace and continues to be the biggest violator of human rights in all its form. Terrorism like climate change and pandemics impacts us all," she said.

WHAT DID SHEHBAZ SHARIF SAY?

Shehbaz Sharif had said that: “Pakistan desires peaceful relations with all its neighbours, including India. However, until India brings its atrocities in occupied Kashmir to a grinding halt, just and lasting peace will remain elusive.”

“India today is a threat to its minorities, to its neighbours, to its region and to itself,” he said, adding, “Pakistan is willing to engage with India for the sake of peace, prosperity and progress in the region because we cannot afford to have more poverty [and] unemployment on both sides of the border”.

Shehbaz Sharif said he was “absolutely ready and willing to have serious dialogue and discussion with our counterparts in India provided they show the sincerity of purpose and they show that they are ready to discuss issues which have really kept us at a distance over decades”.