India Criticizes Norway’s Comments On Kashmir, Says Focus Should Be On PoK And Terrorism

India said the international community should be concerned about Islamabad’s exploitation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for cross-border terrorism on Friday, rejecting Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide’s comments on the matter. Eide added that after meeting with Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on Thursday, the two sides talked about regional concerns from Afghanistan to Jammu and Kashmir.

Dar claimed to have informed Eide about the “long-standing unresolved” conflict around Kashmir.

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry, criticised the Norwegian foreign minister’s comments and declared that Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh as a whole are an essential and unalienable part of India.

When asked about Eide’s remarks, Jaiswal responded, “Let me say that the whole of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India,” at his biweekly media briefing.

“The issue that should concern the international community is the atrocities currently being perpetrated in the illegal Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the use of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for cross-border terrorism,” he stated.

In response to another query, Jaiswal discussed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s criticism of India’s choice to put the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) on hold.

“You are aware of our position on the Indus Waters Treaty, and there has been no change in that,” he replied.

As part of a string of strong diplomatic and economic actions announced shortly after the horrific assault in Pahalgam in April of last year that claimed 26 civilian lives, India chose to put the IWT on hold.

According to New Delhi, IWT will remain on hold until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.”

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