Akbar’s 15-minute intervention followed charges by the Congress that the recent trouble in Kashmir was due to the BJP government’s irresponsible attitude towards the troubled state.

“This government is being irresponsible towards Kashmir while during the UPA regime peace, harmony and developmental works were established,” declared Congress member of Parliament Jyotiraditya Scindia, who also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ‘beating drums abroad’ while Kashmir was burning.

Describing the 70-year-old dispute over Kashmir as the longest war in the world’s history, Akbar said this was an existential battle between proponents of the Two-Nation Theory and those who believed in an inclusive, secular nation.

It is perhaps important to remember this when we respond to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s remark that he was “waiting for the day Kashmir becomes part of Pakistan.” (Kashmiris seeking ‘azadi’, or independence, should note that Sharif’s wish does not allow for that possibility.)

Pakistan observed “Kashmir’s Accession to Pakistan Day” on 19 July and a ‘Black Day’ on 20 July to mark the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in Kashmir by Indian security forces on 8 July.

A two-day Kashmir Karwan (Caravan) from Lahore to Islamabad was addressed by terrorists like Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, who has a US$ 10 million bounty on his head, and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin, who pledged that the blood of Muzaffar Wani would not be wasted.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Senator Siraj-ul-Haq, who in June last year had announced a Rs 100 crore bounty on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s head, slammed the Pakistan government for developing trade with India and forgetting the blood of Kashmiris.

According to The News, Siraj said Pakistanis wanted to give a message to Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmad Shah and other Kashmiri leaders and people that the citizens of Pakistan were behind them in their struggle for freedom from India.