(ANI): The Congress on Thursday condemned the Pakistan Foreign Ministry’s accusations of India using ‘excessive force’ against separatists in Jammu and Kashmir, stating that a majority of the people in the Valley do not subscribe to their views.
“A majority of the people in the Valley do not subscribe to the views and the actions expressed by Masarat Alam. So the Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement is utterly wrong and they should understand that Kashmir is integral part of India,” Congress leader P.C. Chacko told ANI.
“Separatists and extremists have always tried to disrupt the elections… Braving the bullets, thousands of people exercised their voting power to elect a government having allegiance to the Republic of India,” he added.
Chacko further noted that elections in Kashmir have taken place at regular intervals.
“Even in the past we have had democratic elections in Kashmir every five years unlike the elections in Pakistan. Pakistan never had a democratic elections strictly based on adult franchise in a free and fair manner,” he said.
Tasnim Aslam, the spokesperson of Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Thursday accused India of using ‘excessive force’ against separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, referring to Masarat Alam and said that it such a move by the Indian Government was ‘regrettable’.
Aslam further called the charges put on the separatist leaders to be ‘bogus’ and ‘illegal’.
“They were demonstrators, who were expressing, who were exercising their right to peaceful assembly. We believe that the charges against the Kashmiri leadership are ‘ bogus’ and ‘illegal’. As India does not have any legal right to demand allegiance to state of India by people of Kashmir, who belong to a disputed territory and whose final settlement in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions is yet to happen,” she said.
“We are concerned at the constant violations of Kashmiris’ fundamental rights. Remain steadfast in our stand of extending full political, diplomatic and moral support to our Kashmiri brothers in Indian Occupied Kashmir,” she added. (ANI)