New Delhi, June 17: India on Thursday said Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of it and no amount of questioning can change the reality, an assertion that came following a letter by the Pakistan foreign minister to two top UN officials alleging a design by New Delhi to change the demographic composition of the region.
Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi also said that “cross-border terrorism is unacceptable”.
“The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. No amount of questioning can change the reality. Also cross border terrorism is unacceptable and no amount of justification can make it acceptable,” he said at a media briefing.
Bagchi was asked to comment on Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s latest letter to the president of the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations Secretary-General.
In the letter, Qureshi alleged that India was changing the demographic structure of Kashmir through the issuance of fake domicile certificates and other measures.
He urged the UN Security Council to call upon India to reverse its actions, including those initiated on and after August 5, 2019.
Pakistan has been making concerted efforts to internationalise the Kashmir issue. The neighbouring country stepped up an anti-India campaign after New Delhi announced in August 2019 its decision to withdraw special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into two union territories.
India has told Pakistan that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Islamabad in an “environment free of terror, hostility and violence”.
India has been maintaining that the onus is on Pakistan “to create an environment free of terror and hostility”.