APD | India, Pakistan representatives discuss Kashmir

By APD writer Rishika Chauhan

At the South Asian Speakers' Summit held in the Maldives on Sunday, the Pakistani and Indian representatives had major disagreements on the issue of Kashmir.

Harivansh Narayan Singh, the deputy chairman of India’s Rajya Sabha and Qasim Suri, the deputy speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly had an argument when the latter brought up the issue of Kashmir, in the Maldivian Parliament where the summit was taking place.

While Qasim tried to discuss Kashmir, Singh blocked the attempt stressing that Islamabad should stop its support to terrorism which is the "biggest threat" to humanity.

"We strongly object to the raising of internal matter of India in this forum. We also reject to the politicisation of this forum by raising the issues which are extraneous to the theme of this summit," Singh said.

"There is a need for Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism and all kinds of state support to the same in the interest of regional peace and stability. Terrorism is the biggest threat to the entire humanity today. Therefore, unanimously we should not allow in this august gathering any kind of circulated statement to become a part of the proceedings," he further said.

Animosity between India and Pakistan has intensified since August 5, when India dissolved the special status of a province, Jammu and Kashmir, which it has a dispute over with Pakistan.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)