NEW DELHI: The opposition Congress (I) party Wednesday called on the government to give a “fitting and effective” response to Pakistan for its “open provocation” in expressing full support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their “struggle for self-determination”.
Strongly condemning the broadcast by Pakistan Foreign Minister Sahabzada Yaqub Khan Tuesday, which spoke of the support, party spokesman M.J. Akbar said, “Whatever may be our differences within the country, we will all be united if India’s unity and integrity was threatened.”
India reiterates charge
India Wednesday charged Pakistan with directly inciting subversion and terrorism in Kashmir and asserted that the only issue that remained to be resolved was the vacation of the Pakistan occupied territory in the Kashmir valley,
Reiterating that Kashmir “is and will continue to be an integral part of India,” an external affairs ministry spokesman expressed deep regret and concern at the “distorted assertion” made by Sahabzada Yaqub Khan in a radio and television broadcast late Tuesday.
The spokesman said Pakistan foreign minister’s efforts aimed to justify his country’s support to terrorists in Kashmir could only cause tension in the region.
The spokesman said the description of recent events in the valley by Sahabzada Yaqub Khan was “deliberately fallacious.”
Khan’s statement indicated that the Pakistan government “persists in its efforts to involve itself in our internal affairs,” in violation of the 1971 Simla accord, the spokesman said.
“Such interference has been claimed by the Pakistan foreign minister to be part of the official government policy. This policy is not conductive to promoting the two countries,” the spokesman stated.
Sahabzada Yaqub Khan in a policy statement on Kashmir late Tuesday accused India of perpetrating “repressive measures” to deprive the Kashmiris of their basic right to self-determination and said Pakistan would never accept any pressure on the issue.
The spokesman said “indeed some of the rhetoric used by the Pakistan foreign minister in the broadcast amounted to direct incitement to subversion, violence and terrorist activity in a part of India.”
He expressed India’s concern at Pakistan’s deliberate interface in “our internal affairs.”
India, he said, had all along desired greater cooperation and closer relations with all her neighbors, particularly since the new government had assumed office.
“The government and the people of India desire nothing but friendship with the people ‘of Pakistan. We will continue to work with determination for good neighborly relations since we believe that peace and tranquility in the region is in the wider interest of both the countries,” the spokesman emphasized.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 9, 1990
