India Post News Service
NEW DELHI: India Thursday dismissed statements made by the Pakistani leadership following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir as “irresponsible” while calling upon Islamabad to behave as a normal neighbor.
At a media briefing here, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar also dismissed a letter written by Pakistani Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari to the UN on alleged human rights violations by India in Jammu and Kashmir “not worth the paper it was written on”. “We strongly condemn the highly irresponsible statements made by the Pakistani leadership on matters internal to India,” Kumar said.
“These statements include references to jihad and to incite violence in India,” he stated. “This is intended to project an alarmist situation which is far from the ground realities. Pakistan needs to understand that the world has seen through their provocative and unsubstantiated rhetoric which is based on lies and deceit.”
With Pakistan unwilling to scale down its high-decibel rhetoric and actions over the Kashmir issue ever since India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir August 5, Kumar chided the western neighbor, saying: “It is important for them (Pakistan) to now start behaving like a normal neighbor. What do normal neighbors do? You don’t push terrorists into a neighboring country. You do normal talk, normal trade. This is not something which is happening in Pakistan.”
On Pakistan Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari writing a letter to 18 UN officials, Kumar said he does not want to lend any credence to the letter by reacting to it.
“They should see what is happening in their house before making statements and everybody knows what is happening, their house is on fire,” he said. “The letter is not worth the paper it was written on.” Asked about intelligence inputs of possible infiltration by terrorists through the sea route, Kumar confirmed that there have been such inputs and said that security forces are prepared to “deal with any eventuality”. On some international organizations raising concerns with India on rights issues, Kumar said India “completely rejects” such unsubstantiated statements.
“These are not based on facts. Facts are being presented on a regular basis by the district administration in J&K,” he said. Kumar also listed several steps to be taken by Jammu and Kashmir the administration like 50,000 vacancies to be filled up in government departments, minimum support price for the apple crop, and Nafed committing Rs 5,000 crores for procuring apple produced in the state. The spokesperson also said that “certain manual interventions” were there which were required to restore landlines in the state.
The government has also announced that it would ensure the preservation and protection of heritage, language, and identity of the region, Kumar said. He also reiterated the announcement made by Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik that elections to the block development council would be completed by October. In terms of restrictions that have been imposed, out of the 197 police stations, Kumar said that there are no day-time restrictions in 167 police stations in Jammu and Kashmir.
He also dismissed reports that there was a shortage of essential drugs in the northern state. “The local government is handling the situation with maturity and restraint,” Kumar said. “Not a single life has been lost, not a single live bullet has been fired. The administration is putting all the necessary resources so that normalcy returns to the state as soon as possible.”
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