Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday summoned the Indian Charge d’Affaires to the Foreign Office and handed over a demarche on the second anniversary of the changed status of Indian Jammu and Kashmir.
The Pakistan Foreign Office summoned Indian Charge d’ Affaires Suresh Kumar and conveyed a ‘strong demarche’ to convey Islamabad’s ‘unequivocal rejection’ of the August 5, 2019 action by India to change the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
The summoning of the Indian envoy was part of Pakistan’s moves to keep the Kashmir issue burning.
In other moves, Islamabad had invited a team of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the OIC to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on Thursday, and the Pakistani leadership had issued statements against India.
Pakistan has been trying to drum up international support against India on the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that changed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and resulted in its division into two Union Territories – of J&K and Ladakh.
On Thursday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had tweeted that the Union Territory of J&K has seen ‘real Democracy, Development, Good Governance and Empowerment’ in the last two years, that has helped strengthen India’s unity and integrity.
India had on Thursday summoned the Pakistani Charge D’Affaires to lodge a strong protest over the vandalization of a Hindu temple in Rahimyar Khan in Pakistan’s Punjab province and called upon Islamabad to ensure the safety, security and well-being of its minority communities.
India has firmly stated that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of its territory, and all the issues relating to the Union Territory of J&K are an internal affair of the country.
On the constitutional changes brought about on Jammu and Kashmir, India has always maintained that “these relate to the temporary provisions on J&K, including an Article 370 of the constitution”, and that the changes have been brought through established parliamentary procedures and it is well within the framework of the Constitution of India to effect these changes.”