India thwarts Pak attempt to raise Kashmir issue at Male, tells it to end state support to terror

India on Sunday thwarted an attempt by Pakistan to raise the Kashmir issue during the South Asian Speakers' Summit in the Maldives, saying Islamabad should end all state support to terrorism which is the "biggest threat" to humanity.

The two sides had a heated exchange during summit held in the Maldivian Parliament where the representatives of the South Asian countries had gathered.

Pakistan's Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Suri tried to raise the Kashmir issue during the discussion on Sustainable Development Goals.

India immediately raised a point of order after which the presiding officer asked Suri to let the Indian representative, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, to speak, but he did not pay any heed, leading to commotion.

In a strong response, Harivansh hit out at Pakistan for raising India's internal issue and politicisation of the forum.

"We strongly object to the raising of internal matter of India in this forum. We also reject to the politicisation of this forum by raising the issues which are extraneous to the theme of this summit," Harivansh said.

"There is a need for Pakistan to end cross border terrorism and all kinds of state support to the same in the interest of regional peace and stability. Terrorism is the biggest threat to the entire humanity today.

"Therefore, unanimously we should not allow in this august gathering any kind of circulated statement to become a part of the proceedings," he said.

Pakistan Senator Quratulain Marri objected to Harivansh's remarks and said that SDGs for women and youth cannot be achieved without human rights.

Harivansh hit back at Pakistan saying a country that perpetrated a genocide of its own people has no moral right to speak on the human rights issue.

Raising a