India on Thursday slammed Pakistani Ambassador to China Moin-ul-Haque for his “lies and half-truths” on Jammu and Kashmir, and said terrorists “recruited, trained and armed” by Islamabad have disturbed peace and order in the Union Territory which is an integral part of India.
IMAGE: Security personnel stand guard outside Sher-e-Kashmir stadium in Srinagar during the full dress rehearsals for the 74th Independence Day celebrations. Photograph: PTI Photo
“India’s concerted efforts to bring peace, stability and progress to J&K stand in stark contrast to Pakistan’s strategy, which is little more than a blatant and rapacious campaign of cross-border terrorism aimed at debilitating the region,” the embassy of India in Beijing said.
The embassy made these remarks in response to an article titled Urgent actions on Jammu, Kashmir needed published in China’s state-run Global Times on August 7.
In a statement, the embassy said Ambassador Haque has chosen to repeat Pakistan’s “lies and half-truths vis-a-vis the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India and whose affairs are internal affairs of India, where Pakistan, or any other country, has no locus standi.”
Ambassador Haque’s misrepresentations, while not surprising, cannot conceal the significant progress that J&K has made in the year following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, the statement said, detailing the developmental activities initiated by the government in the last one year.
Haque could consider holding up a mirror to his own “regime” and reflect on Pakistan’s own actions in the region before making ludicrous characterisations of the Indian government’s actions, it added.
“Terrorists recruited, trained and armed by Pakistan have disturbed peace and order in J&K, with over 450 incidents of terrorist orchestrated violence taking place since August 2019, leading to several civilian casualties. And it is in fact Pakistan that has repeatedly effected administrative and demographic changes in territories that it has occupied illegally and forcibly in J&K and Ladakh,” it said.
Pakistan’s unprovoked ceasefire violations, numbering close to 3,000 in the first seven months of 2020 alone, provide support for terrorist infiltration along the Line of Control, the statement added.
The Global Times has declined to carry the Indian embassy’s response, the mission said.
“The Global Times @globaltimesnews declined to carry the Indian Embassy’s response to this interview,” the embassy tweeted on Thursday.
The embassy also attached to the tweet its detailed response which Global Times, part of the ruling Communist Party of China’s publications, has declined to carry.
