India has summoned Pakistan’s diplomats to the nation calling for a protest against Islamabad’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s call to the head of the AII Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, cautioning Pakistan of possible consequences if the country tries to maintain contacts with Jammu and Kashmiri politicians, standing for the region’s independence from India.
The Kashmiri politician is the head of a political alliance in Jammu & Kashmir called as AII Parties Hurriyat Conference, promoting the independence of the state under the right of the self-determination.
According to Sputnik news reports, India’s foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale has accused Islamabad of attempting to sabotage Indian integrity and further interfering in the nation’s internal matters.
In an official statement, the Indian foreign ministry said, “[The envoy] was cautioned that persistence of such behaviour by Pakistan will have implications.”
Islamabad has responded to New Delhi’s claims by saying that Pakistan has always maintained close contact with the top politicians and leaders of Kashmir and that there was nothing much new about Qureshi’s call to Farooq.
Farooq, a Kashmiri religious politician and the head of the AII Parties Hurriyat Conference political alliance which included 26 religious, social and political organizations, promoting the independence of Jammu & Kashmir state in India.
Both Pakistan and India, including China, have been claiming the sovereignty over J&K since 1947. Currently, Kashmir has been divided into three sides, one with the Line Of Control (LOC) surveilling Indian border along with Pakistan-controlled part of the region.
India has long-accused Pak of supporting the insurgents, who demanded the J&K’s secession from India, but however, Islamabad had denied all the allegations leveled against it.