‘When Pak returns stolen part’: Jaishankar responds to question on solving Kashmir

‘When Pak returns stolen part’: Jaishankar responds to question on solving Kashmir

When Pak returns stolen part’: Jaishankar responds to question on solving Kashmir ByRezaul H Laskar Mar 06, 2025 09:22 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Jaishankar made the remarks when he was asked by a Pakistani journalist about the possibility of Modi working with US President Trump to solve the Kashmir issue

NEW DELHI: India has largely resolved the Kashmir issue by scrapping the region’s special status, restoring economic activity and holding elections, and the matter will be settled when Pakistan returns the “stolen part of Kashmir” under its illegal occupation, external affairs minister S Jaishankar has said.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar during a conversation at Chatham House. (@DrSJaishankar)

Jaishankar’s remarks, made at an event hosted by the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London on Wednesday evening, prompted a pushback on Thursday from Pakistan, which trotted out its usual position that Jammu and Kashmir is disputed territory whose final status is to be determined through a plebiscite.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah too weighed in on the subject, saying during a debate in the local assembly in Srinagar on Thursday that the central government should endeavour to get back another part of Kashmir occupied by China. Abdullah was referring to Aksai Chin, a region claimed by India and annexed by China after the 1962 border war.

Jaishankar made the remarks when he was asked by a Pakistani journalist at Chatham House about the possibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi working with US President Donald Trump to solve the Kashmir issue. The event was not conducted according to the well-known “Chatham House rules”, which bar reporting or attribution of comments.

“On Kashmir, we have done a good job solving most of it. I think removing Article 370 was step number one, then restoring growth and economic activity and social justice in Kashmir was step number two, holding elections, which were done with a very high turnout, was step number three,” Jaishankar said, referring to the government’s decision in August 2019 to scrap the constitutional article that gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir and to split the state into two union territories.

“I think the part we are waiting for is the return of the stolen part of Kashmir, which is under illegal Pakistani occupation. When that’s done, I assure you, Kashmir (is) solved,” he added.

India has for long asked Pakistan to return about a third of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir that it occupied after a war in 1948. It has also accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism in Kashmir as part of state policy.

Hours later, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan rejected Jaishankar’s remarks at a weekly media briefing in Islamabad. He contended Jammu and Kashmir is disputed territory and Jaishankar’s remarks “misrepresent the ground realities”.

Khan noted that UN Security Council resolutions state the final status of Jammu and Kashmir has to be determined through a plebiscite under UN auspices, and said “any electoral exercise pursuant to the Indian constitution” cannot be a substitute to the grant of the right to self-determination.

“Similarly, the decades-old grievances of the Kashmiri people cannot be meaningfully addressed through economic activity down the barrel of a gun,” Khan said, adding that the peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue in line with UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people is imperative for lasting peace.

In Jammu and Kashmir, chief minister Omar Abdullah, whose National Conference party swept assembly elections last October, raised Jaishankar’s remarks during a debate in the assembly on the scrapping of Article 370 and restoration of statehood.

“One part [of Jammu and Kashmir] is with Pakistan. Today, the foreign minister has said they will bring back that portion. Did anyone ever stop them?... We say if you want to bring it back, do so,” Abdullah said. “Why didn’t you get it back during the Kargil war? That was an opportunity… Pakistan had attacked [at the time].”

Abdullah pointed out that “another portion [of Jammu and Kashmir] is with China” and said: “Why doesn’t anyone talk about that? When you get back the part [from Pakistan], also get back the part that is with China.”