India’s PM says he has ‘solved’ the ‘problem’ in Kashmir

Pakistan charges Modi and stresses that the situation in the region “is an internationally recognized dispute”

Oct. 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –

India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has claimed “to have solved” the “problem” in the Kashmir region, in dispute with Pakistan, which has sparked criticism from Islamabad, which has said that it is a “false” statement. and misleading.”

Modi has given a speech veiledly criticizing Jawaharlal Nehru — who became the first person to serve as prime minister after independence in 1947 — by stating that the situation in Kashmir was managed “by a single person”, causing the problem to fester.

Thus, the prime minister praised the figure of Sardar Patel, deputy prime minister of India during part of Nehru’s mandate, and has assured that “he follows in his footsteps”. “Sardar persuaded the states to join India, but someone else handled the Kashmir issue,” he stressed.

“I am following in the footsteps of Sardar, I have the values ​​of the land of Sardar and that is the reason why I have solved the problem of Kashmir. For this, I pay tribute to Sardar Patel,” he said, as collected by the Indian state news agency, PTI.

In response, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry has “categorically” rejected Modi’s words, saying that these statements “reflect how far removed the Indian leadership is from the realities on the ground in occupied Kashmir”.

Thus, he highlighted in a statement published on his website that the situation in the region “is an internationally recognized dispute” and added that “its solution has been on the United Nations agenda since 1948.”

“Despite clear UN resolutions on a free and impartial plebiscite for the final settlement of the dispute, India has not only illegally occupied the territory, but is guilty of serious human rights violations and employs more than 900,000 troops. of its brutal occupying force,” he denounced.

In this sense, he has emphasized that “the fact is that the population in occupied Kashmir continues to face the reprehensible Indian occupation, which it seeks to perpetuate through malicious demographic changes and heavy-handed tactics”, before branding ” facade of normalcy” the “arranged visits” by Indian leaders and the “so-called development projects”.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry has outlined that these actions “will not affect the spirit of the Kashmiris who are struggling to free themselves from the illegal Indian occupation nor will they deceive the world”, before asking New Delhi to “fulfill its commitments to the Kashmiris and the world and ensure that the Kashmiri people enjoy their inalienable right to self-determination.”

“Pakistan has consistently asked the international community to assume its role and responsibility for occupied Kashmir and the Indian atrocities in the occupied territory,” he recalled, before calling on human rights organizations to “condemn state terrorism ” of India in the region.

“The only solution to the dispute in Kashmir lies in ensuring that Kashmiris can exercise their right to self-determination through the democratic method of holding a free and impartial plebiscite, mediated by the UN, as contemplated in the relevant resolutions of the Council of Security of the United Nations and in line with the wish of the Kashmiri people,” he concluded.

Pakistan and India have fought over it in two of the three wars they have had since independence from the UK. In 1999 there was a brief but intense military confrontation between the two nuclear powers and since 2003 a fragile truce has been maintained.