Pakistan has no locus standi on J&K: Govt

Vikas Swarup said Pak wants to end to all cross-border terrorism, infiltration and instigation to terrorism, violence against India

In a strong counter to Islamabad raking up the Kashmir issue with the UN, Government on Thursday said that Pakistan has no locus standi on Jammu and Kashmir.

The reaction by the Ministry of External Affairs came following reports that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein to make efforts to end the "violation of human rights" in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistan has no locus standi in addressing any aspect of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which is an internal matter of India, except to put an end to all cross-border terrorism, infiltration and support and instigation to terrorism and violence against India," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here.

"We are in touch with important interlocutors bilaterally as well as multilaterally to put across the correct picture," he said.

Swarup's reaction comes a day after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Parliament that no power can separate Kashmir from India and laid the blame for the current unrest in the Kashmir Valley squarely at Pakistan's door.

India also summoned the Pakistan envoy earlier this week and served him a demarche against continuing cross-border infiltration.

In two separate letters, Sharif called upon the world bodies to implement UN Security Council Resolutions that provide for the self-determination of the Kashmiri people, the Prime Minister's House said on Tuesday.

He also sought to focus the world's attention on the recent unrest in the Kashmir Valley which has claimed over 50 lives and left thousands injured.

Sharif also highlighted the use of pellet guns that had inflicted severe eye injuries on many Kashmiris. He said that pellet guns "were aimed with the deliberate intention of causing serious permanent injuries", adding, "this was unacceptable".

"Let me also say it does not matter how many letters are written, it will still not whitewash cross-border terrorism," Swarup said on Thursday.