India on Monday reacted strongly to Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif’s comments on Kashmir.
“The only issue with Pakistan is to get back parts of Jammu & Kashmir under its illegal occupation,” Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh said, according to a Times of India report.
The minister said that the occupied valley of Jammu and Kashmir “was and will remain an integral part of India”.
“If there is any subject related to Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan it is how the parts of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) can be again included in India,” he said. “That means the area, which after 65-66 years, even after being part of Jammu & Kashmir, is under illegal possession of Pakistan,” the minister told reporters.
His comments came after Gen Sharif called Kashmir an “unfinished agenda” and warned of “unbearable damage” in case of a “long or short” misadventure by India.
“If the enemy ever resorts to any misadventure, regardless of its size and scale — short or long — it will have to pay an unbearable cost,” Gen Sharif said in his address at a special event in Rawalpindi to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war with India.
“Armed forces of Pakistan are fully capable of dealing with all types of internal and external threats, may it be conventional or sub-conventional; whether it is cold start or hot start. We are ready,” General Raheel had said.
