New Delhi: In a move apparently aimed at increasing the pressure on Pakistan, India has hinted it is mulling whether delegates from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir should be invited for the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in Bengaluru in January 2017, with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj saying, in response to a question: “Wait for the government’s decision.”
India’s consistent position is that PoK is part of Jammu and Kashmir and thus Indian territory illegally occupied by Pakistan. The external affairs ministry later said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier given some instructions to the MEA, but did not say how it would implement these directives.
Hardening its stand, India also said that it seeks a result-oriented dialogue with Pakistan, with the intended result being the early vacation of the illegal occupation of PoK by Pakistan.
India also told Pakistan that not just New Delhi, the larger region was aware Pakistan is actually the “prime perpetrator” of terrorism. This was conveyed in a letter by foreign secretary S. Jaishankar to his Pakistani counterpart, that was handed over in Islamabad by the Indian high commissioner two days ago.
