Pakistan warns India against unilaterally altering status of Kashmir

Published January 21, 2015
Sartaj Aziz says unprovoked firing on LoC portends India’s dangerous desire to create a space for war.- AP photo
Sartaj Aziz says unprovoked firing on LoC portends India’s dangerous desire to create a space for war.- AP photo

ISLAMABAD: The prime minister's advisor on Wednesday said that efforts by India towards unilaterally altering the status of Kashmir would further compound an already complicated situation between the two countries.

"Unprovoked and indiscriminate firing and shelling from across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary, with Indian leadership threatening disproportionate use of force, portend India’s dangerous desire to create a space for war," Adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz told the concluding session of the two-day Ideas Conclave hosted by the Jinnah Institute.

Mr Aziz said this behaviour also reveals a clear dichotomy in India’s insistence on eliminating terrorism on the one hand and creating distractions for Pakistan's armed forces engaged in a relentless and non-discriminatory counter-terrorism operation ‘Zarb-i-Azb’.

Aziz said the cancellation of secretary-level talks by India on the pretext of Pakistan's High Commissioner meeting with Kashmiri leaders was found unconvincing worldwide.

He expressed concern over New Delhi’s defence spending and said India is "accentuating the conventional asymmetry and seriously impacting regional stability".

The adviser said the rise of non-state actors like the Islamic State (IS) has changed the global threat matrix and is beginning to imperil the stability of many states and societies including in this region.

He said terrorism, climate change, economic interdependence, regional integration, and a shrinking globe, are all facets of the infinitely complex world that we are destined to grapple with.

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