India slams Pakistan for glorification of terrorists

Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan will continue to extend moral, political and diplomatic support for Kashmiris in their just struggle for right to self-determination

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Maintaining that Pakistan has no locus standi to interfere in India's internal affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday lashed out at Islamabad for declaring Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani a martyr.

MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said India completely and unequivocally rejects in the entirety the decisions adopted by the Cabinet of Pakistan on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We are dismayed at the continued attempts by Pakistan to interfere in our internal matters, where we reiterate, Pakistan or any other external party has no locus standi," he added.

Swarup said the continued glorification of terrorists belonging to proscribed terrorist organisations makes it amply clear where Pakistan's sympathies continue to lie.

"The self serving actions by Pakistan in the last few days to derive political mileage out of the recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir follow planned infiltration and terrorism aimed at India from across the Line of Control and the international Boundary," he added.

Asserting that the attempts in Pakistan by various players to ingratiate themselves to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the run up to the so called elections in territories under Pakistan's illegal occupation won't succeed, Swarup said New Delhi hopes Islamabad will desist from further interfering in India's internal affairs and destabilising the situation in South Asia through support to terrorism and other subversive acts.

"We also hope that Pakistan will respond constructively to India's initiatives for peace and normalising the India-Pakistan relationship," he added.

On the call of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Federal Cabinet earlier on Friday decided that the country will observe July 19 as 'Black Day' against the Indian "barbarism in the Kashmir Valley."

The decision was made at a special Cabinet meeting preceded over by Prime Minister Sharif, who on Friday termed the movement of Kashmiris as a 'movement of freedom' in Lahore, reports the Radio Pakistan.

Prime Minister Sharif said that Pakistan will continue to extend moral, political and diplomatic support for Kashmiris in their just struggle for "right to self-determination."

He added the "Indian brutalities" will give impetus to the freedom struggle, which even the seven hundred thousand Indian soldiers deployed in the Indian side of Kashmir could not suppress.

He went on to call the 22-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani as "martyr" of the independence movement.

Prime Minister Sharif said that Kashmiris will get their right to self-determination for which the whole Pakistani nation is standing behind them.

He also directed all the relevant departments to highlight "Indian atrocities" by armed forces in the valley at international fora.

The meeting also condemned the recent terrorist attacks in France, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Turkey and Indonesia.