'Unacceptable': India fumes at Turkish Prez’s Kashmir push during Pak visit

'Unacceptable': India fumes at Turkish Prez’s Kashmir push during Pak visit

Unacceptable': India fumes at Turkish Prez’s Kashmir push during Pak visit ByRezaul H Laskar Feb 21, 2025 10:19 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Instead of speaking on India’s internal matters, Erdogan should have focused on Pakistan’s policy of supporting cross-border terror, said Jaiswal

NEW DELHI: India on Friday rejected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s call for the Kashmir issue to be addressed in line with a UN resolution, with the external affairs ministry saying a strong protest was lodged with the Turkish envoy over the unwarranted and unacceptable remarks.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari (L) and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (R) greeting Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) on his arrival at the Nur Khan military airbase in Rawalpindi. (AFP PHOTO / Pakistan's Press Information Department)

The Indian side responded a week after Erdogan made the comments in Islamabad following his talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The remarks were seen in New Delhi as a move away from Erdogan’s silence on the Kashmir issue for almost two years, a period during which the matter didn’t figure in his public comments at forums such as the UN General Assembly and the D8 bloc.

“We reject such objectionable comments on matters which are internal to India. We have lodged a strong protest with the Turkish ambassador in Delhi,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“Such unwarranted statements on India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty are unacceptable. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. No other country has any locus standi to comment on it.”

Also Read | ‘No one has power to remove Palestinians’: Turkey's Erdogan on Trump's Gaza ‘plan’

At a media interaction with Sharif in Islamabad on February 13, Erdogan said the Kashmir issue should be resolved through dialogue between India and Pakistan. “The Kashmir issue should be addressed according to the UN resolution through dialogue and keeping in mind the aspirations of the people of Kashmir,” he said.

“Our state and our nation, as in the past, stands in solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers today.”

Instead of speaking on India’s internal matters, Erdogan should have focused on Pakistan’s policy of supporting cross-border terror directed against India, Jaiswal said. Since the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019, India has doubled down on its position that the Kashmir issue has been settled and that Pakistan has no role to play in the matter.

“Instead of commenting on internal affairs of another country, it would have been appropriate if Pakistan’s policy of using cross-border terrorism against India, which remains the biggest threat for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, had been called out,” Jaiswal said.

In response to another question regarding Pakistan’s parliament passing a resolution this week that urged India to conduct a plebiscite in Kashmir, Jaiswal said: “Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, it always has been, and it will remain so. There should be no doubt or confusion about this.”

India’s opposition to Pakistan’s use of cross-border terrorism also figured in Jaiswal’s response to yet another question on calls by Bangladesh’s interim government to revive the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc). Jaiswal said such efforts by Bangladesh would “normalise terrorism”.

Saarc has been moribund since India pulled out of the grouping’s summit that was to be held in Islamabad in 2016 following an attack on an army camp in Kashmir that was carried out by Pakistan-based terrorists. Bangladesh’s interim government has been pushing for the revival of Saarc and Jaiswal acknowledged this matter had figured in a recent meeting between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Bangladeshi counterpart Touhid Hossain in Muscat.

“Everyone in South Asia is aware of which country and what activities are responsible for stymieing Saarc. [Jaishankar] conveyed that it is important that Bangladesh should not normalise terrorism,” Jaiswal said.

He said certain remarks made by de facto ministers in Bangladesh’s interim government were “not helpful”. He added, “It is for the concerned individuals to reflect on implications for their particular domain.”