New Delhi: After Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan posted a tweet “strongly” condemning violence in Kashmir, India retorted that Pakistan should address its own internal issues.
On Monday morning, Imran Khan tweeted, “Strongly condemn the new cycle of killings of innocent Kashmiris in IOK by Indian security forces.”
He wrote that it was “time India realised it must move to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue in accordance with the UN SC resolutions & the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”
On Sunday, at least seven civilians were killed in an explosion after an encounter between police and Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists in Kulgam.
Incidentally, just two days earlier, Khan had expressed sympathy for the victims of the train accident in India’s Punjab province that had left at least 61 dead.
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Pakistani foreign office also issued a separate statement by foreign minister S.M. Qureshi that the international community needed to take “swift action against human rights violations in IoK by the Indian occupation forces.”
The Indian response on Monday night, however, only took cognisance of Khan’s tweet.
“The remarks made by Pakistan’s Prime Minister in his tweet today are deeply regrettable. Instead of making comments on India’s internal affairs, Pakistan’s leadership should look inwards and address its own issues,” said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
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He noted that Pakistan should take “credible action” against all “kinds of support to terrorism and terror infrastructure from all territories under its control rather than supporting and glorifying terrorists and terror activities against India and its other neighbours.”
“Pakistan’s deceitful stand on dialogue, while supporting terror and violence, stands exposed to the whole world,” Kumar added.
This is the second verbal cross-fire between the two South Asian neighbours after India cancelled plans to hold talks of foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last month, a day after giving assent to the proposal from Prime Minister Khan.
Thereafter, they clashed at the General Assembly, where Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers, as well as their diplomats, lobbed verbal volleys at each other.