Pak plays J&K football again

NEW DELHI: With the situation in Kashmir deteriorating by the hour, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Quereshi found the perfect opportunity to express his governments concern at the firing on civilians in the valley and the use of excessive force.

“The government of Pakistan condemns the excessive and unwarranted use of force against the people of Indian-occupied-Kashmir,” Qureshi said in a tough statement on Monday night. Islamabad called for a halt to the assault on civilians.

Since January 2004, when the India-Pakistan peace talks were on track, Kashmir had receded to the background, with both sides talking of trade relations and confidence-building measures between the two nations.

Today, thanks to the mishandling by New Delhi of the land transfer in Jammu and the BJP igniting the Hindus in the area, Kashmir is once again the political football it has always been in defining India-Pakistan relations. Much of the blame for this lies with New Delhi for not dousing the flames, now engulfing the state, in time.

Qureshi also expressed “great sorrow and grief” at the death of Sheikh Abdul Aziz  in police firing on Monday.

Expectedly, New Delhi reacted angrily to the Pakistani foreign minister’s statement, calling it a gross interference in India’s internal affairs. India also said: “Such statements...do not help the situation. Nor do they contribute to creating the atmosphere necessary for dialogue between India and Pakistan to move forward.”
g_seema@dnaindia.net