india

Updated: Oct 24, 2019 22:30 IST

India on Thursday accused Pakistan of setting up “Kashmir cells” in its missions around the world that posed the threat of radicalising people in other countries through “false propaganda”.

The allegation, made by external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar during a weekly news briefing, came against the backdrop of heightened tensions between the two sides over the Kashmir issue and reports of Pakistan’s involvement in organising anti-India protests in Western capitals.

Kumar also dismissed as “drama” Pakistan’s decision to take diplomats to areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, where the Indian Army said it had recently targeted terrorist camps. “In the past too, Pakistan has done similar naked propaganda. When they take diplomats on such visits, they try to project a different type of reality,” he said in response to questions.

Kumar further said: “We are all aware the government of Pakistan has set up Kashmir cells across all their missions in the world. The main objective of these cells is to incite the local population...The objective also is to radicalise them through false propaganda.”

He added, “We hope countries where these Kashmir cells have been opened, they do realise that it is very dangerous for such cells which are openly inciting violence. (They) should be closed and all countries should take appropriate action against such cells operating from their soil.”

Referring to the Indian Army’s recent actions, Kumar said it was public knowledge that there were terrorist launch pads near the LoC in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir that are used to infiltrate terrorists into India.

“If Pakistan is serious and wants to project a positive image to the world, they should take diplomats and show them how terrorist infrastructure is being destroyed...and how credible, irreversible and verifiable action is being taken against this infrastructure instead of this drama,” he said.

Kumar reiterated India’s position that comments by the leadership of Malaysia and Turkey on the Kashmir issue are “unacceptable” and “not factually accurate”. He said Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s remarks on Tuesday defending his criticism of India’s handling of the Kashmir issue were “unacceptable and not in keeping with the facts”.

Asked about reports that Indian importers had decided to stop buying palm oil from Malaysia, Kumar said a decision to “import any commodity is the prerogative of importing companies but at the same time they are not impervious to the state of affairs between any two countries”.