New Delhi: Backing Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar’s statement, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said that Pakistan should discuss the matter of sponsored terrorism and not the Kashmir issue which is not related to the estranged neighbours.
“Pakistan should hold talks on terrorism. India’s stand on this is very clear. Kashmir is an integral and inseparable part of India, and no discussion is to be held on this issue. Pakistan should discuss the matter of sponsored terrorism which is creating problems for India,” BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told ANI.
India is ready to hold talks on terror and the discussion on Kashmir will be limited to cross-border terrorism and infiltration in Kashmir, S Jaishankar yesterday said in response to his Pakistani counterpart’s invitation to visit to Islamabad.
Sources have confirmed that following the invitation from Pakistan, Jaishankar is willing to visit Islamabad.
Reacting to former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid’s Balochistan statement, Hussain said Pakistan is going to seek advantage of his statement and being a Congress leader, he shouldn’t have said this.
“India is nowhere interfering but it is our responsibility to voice for the human rights violation in Balochistan. Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is a part of India that has been forcefully occupied by Pakistan. When in foreign policy we are taking a strong stand against Pakistan then, Congress should not separately take a stand on this. It won’t be good for the country,” he added.
Earlier on Wednesday the Congress party’s Salman Khurshid in a statement said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new policy vis-a-via Balochistan and Pakistan-Occupied- Kashmir (PoK) is “that of a novice”.
The Congress, however, officially disagreed with Khurshid’s views altogether and said India should aggressively raise the issue of atrocities being committed by Pakistan in Balochistan, both bilaterally and in international forum.
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said Khurshid’s comment about Balochistan being an internal matter of Pakistan may be his personal opinion, but the party believes that human rights violations in Balochistan is an issue related to India.(ANI)