Angry India tells Pakistan to lay off from J&K

A very angry India told Pakistan on Wednesday to lay off on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir after a telephone conversation between Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood and conveyed New Delhi's condemnation in "the strongest terms of this latest brazen attempt by Pakistan to subvert India's unity and to violate our sovereignty and territorial integrity, by none other than the Pakistan Foreign Minister", the Eternal Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"The Foreign Secretary conveyed that this deplorable act has violated all norms for the conduct of international relations even by Pakistan's own standards," the statement said.

"The Pakistan Foreign Minister's actions are tantamount to direct interference in the internal affairs of its neighbour," it stated.

"Foreign Secretary underscored that by this action Pakistan has confirmed yet again that it officially abets and encourages individuals associated with terrorism and anti-India activities."

Gokhale said that it has exposed to the entire international community Pakistan's duplicity in professing their desire for normal relations with India on the one hand, while openly inciting anti-India activities on the other.

Gokhale also told Mahmood that "India expects Pakistan to desist forthwith from such actions".

"He was cautioned that persistence of such behaviour by Pakistan will have implications," the ministry statement said.

Gokhale made it clear that "Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and shall remain the integral part of India".

New Delhi's reaction came after Tuesday's conversation between Qureshi and Farooq in which the former spoke about Islamabad's efforts to "highlight" the situation in Jammu and Kashmir "internationally".

New Delhi-Islamabad ties are frosted after repeated cross-border terror attacks from Pakistan-based terror outfits.

--IANS

ab/prs