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Updated: Jun 22, 2020 22:00 IST

Pakistan’s letter to the United Nations alleging human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, after its special status was revoked, mentions not only Congress leader Rahul Gandhi but also Haryana Chief Minister and BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar

The seven-page letter written by human rights minister Shireen Mazari quotes Haryana CM as saying on August 10 that with Kashmir now open, “brides will be brought from there to here”, reports IANS. He later clarified that it was a “joke”.

Earlier this month, Rahul Gandhi had sought information from the Centre on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. “Some reports have come that things in Jammu and Kashmir are going very wrong… It is very-very important that the Prime Minister of India and the government be very transparent about what is happening in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh,” he had said.

Watch | Not only Rahul Gandhi, Pak letter to UN on Kashmir mentions BJP’s Khattar too

Wednesday witnessed a war of words between the BJP and the Congress after media reports that Rahul Gandhi’s quote on Kashmir found a mention in the said letter. While the Congress and Gandhi tweeted that Kashmir was an integral part of India the BJP dismissed it as a “U-turn”. The Centre said the Congress leader had insulted the country by his “irresponsible utterances” on the situation in the Valley, stressing that Pakistan has used his statement in their petition against India in the United Nations.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi had to retract their earlier statements after much criticism from across the country. “Rahul Gandhi’s statements on the violence and deaths in the Valley have been used by Pakistan in their petition against India in the United Nations, in which the Islamabad has said and I quote that ‘the acts of violence in Kashmir have been acknowledged by main stream politicians like Congress leader Rahul Gandhi,’” Javadekar said.

The Centre, through a Presidential order, on August 6 scrapped Artice 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and divided the state into two Union Territories.

(With agency inputs)