India, Pak in clash on J&K at Speakers’ meet in Male

New Delhi/Male: India and Pakistan on Sunday had a heated exchange at the South Asian Speakers’ Summit in the Maldives after Pakistani delegates raised the issue of the abrogation of Article 370 on Jammu and Kashmir, which the Indian side resisted strongly.

The Pakistani representative referred to the Kashmir issue, after which a point of order was raised by India and a strong rebuttal was given by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Hari-vansh Narayan Singh.

“We strongly object to raising the internal issue of India here and we also reject the politicisation of this forum by raising issues which are extraneous to this summit,” Mr Singh said. The Indian delegation to the summit was led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

India had last month bifurcated J&K state into two Union territories and revoked Article 370. New Delhi has maintained this is an internal matter of India.

The heated exchange took place at the fourth South Asian Speakers’ Summit on “Achieving the Sustainable Goals” (SDGs). As part of India’s delegation, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Harivansh Narayan Singh, Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, were in Male to attend the meet.

During the discussions on the summit at the Maldives parliament, Pakistan delegate Qasim Suri said: “We cannot ignore the oppression of Kashmiris.” Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh strongly protested, saying: “There is a need for Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism and all kinds of state support to the same in the interest of regional peace and stability. Terrorism is the biggest threat to the entire humanity in the world today.”

India also noted that the summit was meant to discuss SDGs and hence remarks by the Pakistan delegate should be deleted from the record. “This forum is only meant to discuss SDGs. This [Pakistan’s comment] should not be a part of the proceedings. I strongly object (and) this part should be deleted,” Mr Harivansh Narayan Singh said.

Then, Pakistani Senator Qurat ul Ain Marri decided to launch a tirade against India. “SDGs — all of them, whether about women, youth or environment — nothing can be achieved without human rights. The atrocities (that are) meted out to Kashmir...” she was quoted as saying.

Mr Singh then retorted that a country (Pakistan) that was responsible for committing genocide against its own people [Bangladesh — erstwhile East Pakistan] had no moral right to raise such an issue. “Does the country (Pakistan) that has committed genocide on its own people and it became a separate country (Bangladesh), does it have the moral right to raise the issue?” Mr Singh asked. In response to Mr Singh’s comment on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a stung Ms Marri tried to hit back, saying: “Pakistan is not a purveyor of terror. How dare anyone say that.”