India asks Pak PM to mind his own business

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday took to Twitter to criticise India for “killing innocent Kashmiris”, prompting New Delhi to tick him off by asking to mind his own business.

New Delhi asked the newly elected PM to look inward and address issues in his country instead of making comments on “internal affairs” of India.

The fresh war of words between New Delhi and Islamabad broke out a day after seven civilians were killed in a blast in Kulgam in Jammu and Kashmir, shortly after security forces eliminated three terrorists in the same area. The blast occurred after the encounter when an unexploded shell went off. The local villagers blamed the security forces for the killing of the civilians. Nearly 40 people were injured in the explosion as well as in the clash between villagers and security personnel.

“Strongly condemn the new cycle of killings of innocent Kashmiris in IOK (Indian-Occupied Kashmir) by Indian security forces,” Khan posted on Twitter on Monday.

“It is time India realised it must move to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue in accordance with the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) resolutions & the wishes of the Kashmiri people,” added the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

New Delhi responded by calling Pakistan Prime Minister's remarks “deeply regrettable”.

“Pakistan would serve the interest of the people of the region by taking credible action against all kinds of support to terrorism and terror infrastructure from all territories under its control rather than supporting and glorifying terrorists and terror activities against India and its other neighbours,” Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said.

New Delhi also rejected Pakistan Prime Minister's call for a dialogue. “Pakistan's deceitful stand on dialogue, while supporting terror and violence, stands exposed to the whole world,” said the MEA spokesperson.

New Delhi was filled with “cautious hope” after Tehreek E Insaaf came to power in Pakistan and Khan took over as the Prime Minister of the new government in Islamabad in August.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to his new counterpart and a “political window” for engagement between the two nations appeared to have opened up.

The first opportunity for a bilateral engagement between India and Pakistan under the new regime came last month when both Swaraj and Qureshi were in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Dialogue called off

New Delhi initially accepted a proposal from Islamabad for a meeting between the two on the sidelines of the UNGA, but called it off just a day later, accusing the “entities” based in the neighbouring country of killing three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and glorifying slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by issuing a postage stamp. This was followed by a war of words which dashed all hopes of an early start to the dialogue that remained stalled since 2013.