02 February 2019•Update: 02 February 2019
By Islamuddin Sajid
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Pakistan on Thursday rejected the Indian's government objection over Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's telephone call to pro-independence Kashmir leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
"Summoning of Pakistan high commissioner late last night by Indian Foreign Secretary on the phone call by our foreign minister to Mir Waiz Umer Farooq is just a political gimmickry and electioneering," said Mohammad Faisal, spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Office.
On Tuesday, Qureshi made a telephone call to Farooq to informed him about government’s efforts in highlighting human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Qureshi also briefed Farooq about the Kashmir conference and exhibition to be organized by Pakistan at the House of Commons in London on Feb. 4 and 5.
Indian protest
On Wednesday night, the Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned Pakistani envoy to New Delhi and lodged protest over Qureshi’s call to Farooq.
"The Foreign Secretary conveyed that this deplorable act has violated all norms for the conduct of international relations even by Pakistan’s own standards. The Pakistan Foreign Minister’s actions are tantamount to direct interference in the internal affairs of its neighbour […]," said a statement by the Indian Foreign Ministry.
However, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry rejected the Indian government’s protest and said: “Pakistan will maintain its support and solidarity till the time the Kashmir dispute is resolved peacefully, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the people of occupied Jammu & Kashmir.”
‘Unfortunate’
Responding to India’s objection, Farooq said: “It is unfortunate that the Indian government has made an issue out a phone call which is nothing new.
He said that Kashmir is a dispute and that Kashmiris, Pakistan India will together have to resolve it. “It is no use for India to bury its head in the sand and pretend that Kashmir is not an international dispute,” the pro-independence leader told Anadolu Agency.
“Because of the Indian violence in Kashmir, we are shouldering the coffins of our children every day. There are mass blinding, immense human rights violations. That is what Mr. Qureshi talked to me about. He said Pakistan was trying it’s best to highlight what the happening in Kashmir right now,” he said.
Kashmir dispute
Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.
Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.
Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.
* Zahid Rafiq from Srinagar contributed to this story.
