India slams Pakistan ‘duplicity’

New Delhi: A day after India summoned the Pakistan high commissioner over a phone call made by the Pakistani foreign minister to a senior Hurriyat leader and just hours after Pakistan retaliated by summoning the Indian high commissioner to protest this, India on Thursday lambasted Pakistan and accused it of duplicity, saying one part of the Pakistani Government is talking about building bridges while the other is “acting the opposite”.

New Delhi also said that the level at which anti-Indian sentiments are being propagated is unprecedented.

It may be recalled that foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale had on Wednesday night summoned Pakistan high commissioner Sohail Mahmood to convey India’s condemnation of a phone call made to separatist Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq by the Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, with New Delhi warning of “implications” if such behaviour persists.

According to news agency reports from Islamabad, in a retaliatory move, Pakistan on Thursday summoned India’s high commissioner to lodge a protest over the summoning of its envoy in New Delhi and maintained that it would continue to extend support to the people of Kashmir

In a statement issued late on Wednesday night, the MEA had said, “The High Commissioner of Pakistan was summoned by the Foreign Secretary tonight in connection with the telephone conversation initiated by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. The Foreign Secretary conveyed the Government of India’s condemnation in the strongest terms of this latest brazen attempt by Pakistan to subvert India’s unity and to violate our sovereignty and territorial integrity, by none other than the Pakistan Foreign Minister.”

The MEA had added, “The Foreign Secretary conveyed that this deplorable act has violated all norms for the conduct of international relations even by Pakistan’s own standards. The Pakistan Foreign Minister’s actions are tantamount to direct interference in the internal affairs of its neighbour. Foreign Secretary underscored that by this action Pakistan has confirmed yet again that it officially abets and encourages individuals associated with terrorism and anti-India activities. It has exposed to the entire international community Pakistan’s duplicity in professing their desire for normal relations with India on the one hand, while openly inciting anti-India activities on the other.”

The MEA had further said, “The Pakistan High Commissioner was categorically informed by the Foreign Secretary that the Government of India expects Pakistan to desist forthwith from such actions. He was cautioned that persistence of such behaviour by Pakistan will have implications. The (Indian) Government’s position that the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and shall remain the integral part of India, and that Pakistan has no locus standi in any matters related to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, has been made clear again to the High Commissioner of Pakistan.”