india

Updated: Jan 30, 2019 23:50 IST

India on Wednesday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood and lodged a strong protest over the telephone conversation initiated by Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

A statement from the ministry of external affairs said “Foreign Secretary conveyed the Government of India’s condemnation in the strongest terms of this latest brazen attempt by Pakistan to subvert India’s unity and to violate our sovereignty and territorial integrity, by none other than the Pakistan Foreign Minister.”

Qureshi had spoken with Farooq over phone and briefed him on Islamabad’s efforts to highlight alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, according to a statement from Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

This was the first time the Pakistan government reached out to the Hurriyat after Prime Minister Imran Khan assumed office last year. Mirwaiz said Qureshi was disappointed that despite Khan trying to “reach out sincerely” to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, the “government of India did not respond”, people familiar with developments said.

Envoy Sohail Mahmood was summoned by foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale, who said that Pakistan’s duplicity had been exposed which on one side professed its desire for normal relations with India, but on the other hand was openly inciting anti-India activities, news agency ANI reported.

The government of India’s position that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and shall remain an integral part of India, and that Pakistan has no locus standi in any matters related to the state, has been made clear again to the High Commissioner of Pakistan.