India on Friday rejected Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide’s remarks on the Kashmir issue and said the world community should be concerned over Islamabad’s use of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for cross-border terrorism.
Following his talks with Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on Thursday, Eide said the two sides discussed regional issues ranging from Jammu and Kashmir to Afghanistan.
Dar said he briefed Eide on the “long-standing unresolved” dispute over Kashmir. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal trashed the Norwegian foreign minister’s remarks and said the whole of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh is an integral and inalienable part of India. “Let me say that the whole of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India,” Jaiswal said at his bi-weekly media briefing when he was asked about Eide’s comments. “The issue that should concern the international community is the atrocities currently being perpetrated in the illegal Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the use of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for cross-border terrorism,” he said.
Jaiswal responded to another question on Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s remarks criticising India’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance.
