India on Friday condemned the “provocative and irresponsible” statements against it by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan over abrogation of provisions of Article 370 and said he is unaware of how international relations are conducted.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the comments made by Khan do not behove the post he holds.
Kumar was responding to a question on the call for a march from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to the Line of Control, which has been backed by Pakistan’s military, to protest India’s move.
At a rally held last month, Khan said he knew that majority of the youth in PoK wanted to stage the march to the LoC. However, he asked them to defer it until he fought the case at the UN General Assembly.
“This is not the first time that such statements have come from Pakistan. Pakistan’s Prime Minister holds a high constitutional office. He has given such statements even before. You have heard his statements even in the UNGA... such provocative and irresponsible language he has used. We condemn this,” Kumar said.
In his maiden speech at the UNGA last month, Khan raised the Kashmir issue and demanded that India must lift the “inhuman curfew” in Kashmir and release all “political prisoners”.
Khan devoted half of his address to the Kashmir issue, warning that if there’s face-off between two nuclear-armed neighbours, the consequences would be far beyond their borders.
“I think he is not unaware of how international relations are conducted. On that basis, he gives such statements. He had given an open call for jihad against India. This is not a normal behaviour,” Kumar said.
“We have been saying that Pakistan and its leaders should behave like a normal neighbouring country. They usually do not do that. We don’t expect that but sometimes we do that since we are neighbours. As far as their call of violating some other country’s territorial integrity is concerned, it does not behove the office he holds,” he said.
On Pakistan’s claim of 58 nations backing it on Kashmir, Kumar said it has not been able to produce the list of the nations.
“Sometimes, they kind of make up the number, which they did. When people are asking them to show the list, they do not have it,” the spokesperson said.
Ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after New Delhi abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and bifurcated it into two union territories.
Pakistan reacted angrily to the move and expelled the Indian envoy. Since then, Pakistan has been trying to rally international support against India on the issue.
India also launched a diplomatic outreach to apprise major countries about its decisions on Jammu and Kashmir.