People of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are our own: MEA

“He (Modi) crossed the red line by talking about Balochistan”, Zakaria added.

“The only difference this time was that the various messages the Prime Minister had received (from people of PoK, Balochistan and Gilgit) had sufficiently moved him to share it with the people of India”, Swarup said.

The High Commissioner, who has sought access for a team to visit both Jammu and Kashmir and PoK to independently and thoroughly look into allegations of human rights violations, had said, “I deeply regret that our requests for access have not been granted”.

He criticised the recent statement of Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar who had said terrorism was “central” to its relation with Islamabad, whose different views and attitude have made it hard for bilateral ties to grow.

“We condemn Narendra Modi’s statement on Balochistan”.

“FS had underlined to Pakistan that it has no locus standi on J&K which is an integral part of India”, he said while adding that no decision had been taken on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s participation in SAARC FM’s meeting in Islamabad.

“I swear on the blood of the dead, wherever these terrorists are, we will hunt them down”.

“Then they said we will restart the talks”. Pakistan is being immoral in case of Kashmir.

He accused Pakistan of being involved in violence and terrorism against India since 1947 and supporting terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir “that continues to the present day”.

Meanwhile, the US State Department, while distancing itself from India’s claims over Azad Kashmir, has urged Pakistan and India to work jointly to resolve the Kashmir issue, which Pakistan warns has the potential to lead to yet another war between South Asia’s t wo nuclear-armed states.

He also talked about the assurance given by then President Musharraf in January 2004 that he will not permit any territory under Pakistan’s control to be used to support terrorism against India.

This comes a day after Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar expressed his willingness to visit to Islamabad to have consultations with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary provided they discuss cross-border terrorism issues and not Kashmir.

In response to Zakaria’s statement, Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup said: “I find this an extraordinary remark from a senior functionary of Pakistan, which recognises no red lines in its own diplomacy”.

His comments come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi raked up the Balochistan issue during his Independence Day speech at Red Fort earlier this week.

“With India to be subjected to its Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council in 2017, pressure must be mounted on Government of India to immediately allow the intervention of the UN human rights bodies. You can ask some other countries in the region too”, he added.