Jaishankar Hopes POK To Be Part Of India
- 17-Sep-2019
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New Delhi: India will restore POK very soon. Foreign Minister expresses his willingness today. Cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan should be the first topic to be taken up for any India-Pakistan talks, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
In his statement, World understands why India has undertaken recent steps in Kashmir. He emphasised that ending the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter.
Addressing the media to mark the completion of the first hundred days of the current Indian government. He said, ‘The issue is not Article 370. The issue is Pakistan’s terrorism. There has to be a recognition of that. Pakistan openly uses cross-border terrorism as a tool to advance its foreign policy goals.
The minister’s comment sets the Indian agenda for the upcoming UN General Assembly, where the country’s diplomatic team is expected to defend Indian actions regarding Kashmir. Mr. Jaishankar is expected to participate in the foreign minister-level meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on September 26 where the Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is also scheduled to be present. Mr. Jaishankar did not rule out any meeting with his Pakistan counterpart.
The Indian minister contended that the world understood New Delhi’s case on Jammu and Kashmir.
He argued that the Centre had two options regarding the situation in Kashmir and said one policy had failed in the last three decades; the second option was to do things differently in Kashmir.
The minister also indirectly addressed the growing criticism coming from some members of the U.S. Congress regarding the continuing lockdown of Kashmir that India has imposed since August 5 and remarked that members of the U.S. Congress were known to opine on issues without proper understanding.
