Shashi Tharoor slams Pakistan for interfering in kashmir issue

Tharoor said that Pakistan had raised an issue internal to India and extraneous to their discussions for narrow political gains

Serbia| On Wednesday in an Indian delegation, Shashi Tharoor hits out at Pakistan for raising the Kashmir issue at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) assembly in Serbia, saying it is ironic that a state responsible for multiple terrorist attacks in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and is trying to masquerade as a champion of international law.

The Indian delegation was headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor.

He said Parliament of India will not allow these malicious efforts to succeed. “We expect better from parliamentarians then vituperative mudslinging,”.

“The Indian delegation alleged that the Pakistani delegation comments are baseless about Jammu and Kashmir at two different sessions,” the Lok Sabha secretariat said in a statement and also shared videos of Tharoor’s remarks.

Tharoor said that Pakistan had raised an issue internal to India and extraneous to their discussions for narrow political gains. The Indian delegation rejected outright and strongly condemned such references.

“Chairperson madam I am a member of Parliament from the leading opposition party in India and we will continue to use our Parliament to discuss and debate with our government on Kashmir and other issues. We will fight our own battles democratically and don’t need or welcome interference from across the border,” said Shashi Tharoor.

He added that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, it is ironic that a state which is responsible for promoting cross-border terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir is trying to masquerade as the champion of international law”.

Tharoor also said, “The statement that we heard from the Pakistani diplomat today is indistinctly unhelpful.” “Pakistan is the only country in the world that provides a pension to an individual listed by the United Nations in the Al Qaeda sanctions list. Pakistan is home for 130 UN-designated terrorists and 25 terrorist entities listed by the UN. It is frankly absurd to hear fulminations about respect for human rights from representative of such a state when terrorism is the worst possible to the destroyer of human rights,”.

Tharoor said the Indian delegation hopes that the Pakistani delegation from Pakistan would refrain from misusing the event again and in collective interests of the parliaments of the world focus on serious issues that are under discussion at the IPU assembly.

The Indian parliamentary delegation is in Serbia’s Belgrade city was attended by the 141st assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to be held from 13 – 17 October.

This delegation comprised MPs from across the party lines, including Tharoor, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Wansuk Syiem, Ram Kumar Verma and Sasmit Patra.

Tharoor suggested the Pakistani delegation to focus on Key issues.

Tharoor added, “I hope the delegation of Pakistan will refrain from misusing this august forum in the collective interest of parliament of the world and should focus on some serious issue that is under discussion here,”.