New Delhi: India has issued a note verbale to Pakistan foreign office asking Imran Khan government to provide adequate security to the Indian high commission (IHC) in Islamabad following protests in that country against scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources said that India has sought higher security for its diplomats and its high commission keeping in view the negative media reports and protests that may lead to security threats against Indian diplomats and the high commission in Islamabad.
There were protests in various parts of Pakistan after union home minister announced scrapping of Article 370 removing special status of Jammu and Kashmir and granting it a Union territory status. Pakistan foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood had on Monday summoned Indian high commissioner of India, Ajay Bisaria, to register strong protest against this move by New Delhi.
Every since the news of Artcile 370 abolition came, Pakistan foreign office has been scrambling for support from Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and called for a meeting of the “Contact Group on Jammu Kashmir” in Jeddah on Tuesday to discuss the latest development that took Pakistan by surprise.
The Pakistan delegation to Jeddah is led by its foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Media reports from Pakistan quoted government officials as saying that Islamabad would exercise “all possible options to counter the illegal steps” taken by India regarding Jammu and Kashmir and that the area has been recognised as a site of international dispute.
Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday declared that his troops are “firmly standing by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to the very end. We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfil our obligations in this regard.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Mr Imran Khan while addressing a joint session of his Parliament on Tuesday warned India of another Pulwama kind of attack.
“They (Indian government) will now crack down even harder on the Kashmiri people. They will try to suppress the Kashmiri resistance with brute force. I fear that they may initiate ethnic cleansing in Kashmir to wipe out the local population. With an approach of this nature, incidents like Pulwama are bound to happen again. I can already predict this will happen. They will attempt to place the blame on us again,” Mr Khan said in his Parliament.
