Pakistan Has No Locus Standi On Kashmir, Says Rajnath Singh
No country is backing Pakistan, says Rajnath Singh, amid Islamabad’s attempts to internationalise Article 370 and Kashmir issues.
Pakistan has no locus standi on Kashmir and no country is backing it on the "current issue", Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Leh on Thursday, amid Islamabad's efforts to internationalise the abolition of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir.
On Aug. 5, the Narendra Modi government revoked Constitution of India's Article 370 that granted administrative autonomy to Jammu & Kashmir. The Parliament also passed the J&K Reorganisation Bill, 2019, which will bifurcate the state into union territories of J&K and Ladakh. The bifurcation comes into effect on Oct. 31.
Addressing an event of Defence Research and Development Organisation in Leh, Singh asked how India can talk to Pakistan when it keeps trying to destabilise the country using terror. India wants to have good neighbourly relationship with Pakistan, but that country should first stop exporting terror to India, Singh said.
He asserted that Pakistan has no locus standi on Kashmir.
"I want to ask Pakistan, when had Kashmir belonged to it. Kashmir was always part of India," he said. Pakistan should focus on addressing human rights violations and atrocities in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the defence minister said.
"No country is with Pakistan on the current issue," Singh added.