A Chinese state-controlled tabloid close to the ruling Communist party has refused to carry the Indian embassy’s response to an interview of Pakistani Ambassador where the diplomat repeated Islamabad’s “lies and half-truths” about J&K.
Tweeting about the nationalistic Global Times tabloid refusing to carry the response, the Indian embassy said: “The Global Times @globaltimesnews declined to carry the Indian Embassy’s response to this interview.”
The tabloid, which is affiliated to the Communist Party of China’s mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, did not give a reason for not carrying the Indian response to the interview.
The Indian embassy had approached the tabloid to share its response on Kashmir but was told the tabloid will not run it; after having asked – and having received – the key points in India’s response.
The refusal to carry New Delhi’s version of a sensitive issue in state-controlled media is in contrast to Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong’s wide access to media in India – he has written for mainstream newspapers, including Hindustan Times, and has been interviewed by the Press Trust of India, India’s largest news agency, on the border tension.
Beijing and Islamabad are all-weather strategic allies and have close military ties.
{{/usCountry}}Beijing and Islamabad are all-weather strategic allies and have close military ties.
{{/usCountry}}After being refused, the Indian embassy on Thursday tweeted the response originally meant for the tabloid as a rejoinder to Pakistani envoy Moin ul Haque’s interview.
It was published under the headline ““Urgent actions on Jammu, Kashmir needed” last week, two days after August 5, one year of the abrogation of J&K’s special status.
Haque, incidentally, was slated to serve as high commissioner to India but never took up the post because of New Delhi-Islamabad’s fraught ties in the past one year.
The two-page response called out the unsubstantiated allegations made by Haque and said Pakistan’s Kashmir policy is a “rapacious campaign of cross-border terrorism”.
“India’s concerted efforts to bring peace, stability and progress to J&K stand in stark contrast to Pakistan’s strategy, which is little more than a blatant and rapacious campaign of cross-border terrorism aimed at debilitating the region,” the embassy said.
“It’s unprovoked ceasefire violations, numbering close to 3000 in the first seven months of 2020 alone, provide support for terrorist infiltration along the India-Pakistan Line of Control (LOC),” the Indian response added.
The Indian embassy response pointed out that terrorists recruited, trained and armed by Pakistan have disturbed peace and order in J&K, with over 450 incidents of terrorist orchestrated violence taking place since August 2019, leading to several civilian casualties.
“And it is in fact Pakistan that has repeatedly effected administrative and demographic changes in territories that it has occupied illegally and forcibly in J&K and Ladakh.”
Terming the claims made by Haque to the Chinese state-controlled media outlet as “lies and half-truths”, the embassy wrote in its response: “Perhaps Ambassador Haque could consider holding up a mirror to his own “regime” and reflect on Pakistan’s own actions in the region before making ludicrous characterisations of the Indian government’s actions.”
Besides levelling allegations, Haque told Global Times that Islamabad “…expects the global community to play the role of honest broker in the dispute and take concrete actions to ameliorate the sufferings of the Kashmiri people. We could only hope that the growing international condemnation would dissuade India’s fascist religious-nationalist regime from their illegal acts,” he said.
On August 5, Pakistani media based in Beijing had raised the issue of the removal of Article 370 at a regular Chinese foreign ministry briefing.
“China closely follows the situation in the Kashmir region. Our position is consistent and clear. This issue is a dispute left over from history between Pakistan and India. That is an objective fact established by UN Charter, security council resolutions and bilateral agreements between Pakistan and India. Any unilateral change to the status quo is illegal and invalid. This issue should be properly resolved peacefully through dialogue and consultation between the parties concerned,” spokesperson, Wang Wenbin had said.
Wang had added that peaceful coexistence serves the fundamental interests of both and the common aspiration of the international community.
“China hopes that they (India and Pakistan) can properly handle the differences through dialogue, improve relations and jointly safeguard peace, stability and development of both countries and the wider region,” Wang said.