ISLAMABAD: Pakistan criticized India’s defense minister, Rajnath Singh, on Wednesday for boasting about his country’s readiness to cross the de facto border dividing the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir between the two countries while asking New Delhi not to drag it into the “populist public discourse.”
The two South Asian nuclear-armed states have fought wars over Kashmir since securing independence from British rule in August 1947. Both countries claim the strategic mountainous region in full but only control parts of it.
The Indian minister made the statement while recently visiting the Kargil War Memorial in Ladakh, saying his country’s armed forces would not hesitate to cross the Line of Control (LoC) if required.
Reacting to the development, Pakistan’s foreign office noted it was not the first time an Indian political leader or military official had made “highly irresponsible remarks,” adding that such “jingoistic statements must stop.”
“The practice of dragging Pakistan into India’s populist public discourse, with a view to stoking hyper-nationalism and reaping electoral gains, needs to end,” said the statement.
India and Pakistan fought the Kargil war in 1999 while struggling to control strategic heights along the LoC.
The Indian defense minister said it was a strategic decision not to violate the LoC during the conflict, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration would not stop the armed forces from launching operations across the LoC if it was required by the situation.
Pakistan noted that such “belligerent rhetoric” threatened regional peace and stability while destabilizing South Asia’s strategic environment.
“The Indian leadership is reminded that Pakistan is fully capable of defending itself against any aggression,” the foreign office added.
