India capable of handling Pak attempts to internationalise

With Pakistan likely to try again to internationalise the Kashmir issue, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muralidharan said on Monday India is capable of dealing with Islamabad's "tactics" at international fora, including the United Nations.

He said the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has already discussed abrogation of provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and issued a statement that it was an "internal matter and an administrative decision" of the Indian government.

"India is capable of dealing with whatever tactics Pakistan may adopt in the United Nations General Assembly," the minister told reporters when asked about the possibility of Pakistan raking up Kashmir at the UNGA.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the UNGA on September 27. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has vowed to raise the Kashmir issue at every international forum, will address the general assembly shortly after Modi.

Muralidharan said the UNSC was of the view that any dispute between the two countries on Kashmir should be resolved bilaterally and that the multilateral forum had no role to play.

"So, I don't think that the UNGA can further complicate the matter," Muralidharan said.

The minister was here to address the BJP's 'Rashtriya Ekta Abhiyan', a campaign that was attended by party representatives from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattishgarh. The campaign is aimed at energising the party organisation in these states.

Without naming any opposition party, Muralidharan said some of them were helping Pakistan with their comments on revoking special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

BJP national vice-president and former Lok Sabha MP Jay Panda said the party will organise meetings with general public, intellectuals, opinion makers and eminent citizens to sensitise them about the reasons behind the government's decision to withdraw special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Apart from these, he said, 35 large meetings will be held across the country to inform people about the "history and misuse" of Article 370, "especially by separatist leaders and some politicians".

"People will be told why the abrogation was done. Per capita expenditure in Jammu and Kashmir in the last 70 years was four times of what was spent in the rest of the country, but the people there did not get the benefits," Panda claimed.