Pakistan won't cower to threats, Nisar warns India

Interior minister says Islamabad will not step back from its moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday warned India that Pakistan will not be cowed down by hurling baseless accusations and threats in the wake of a recent separatist attack on an Indian army camp in the occupied Kashmir valley.

At least 17 Indian soldiers died in the attack which India has blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad refutes New Delhi’s claims, saying they are unfounded and leveled without proper investigation.



“Pakistan would not step back from its moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri people,” Nisar said while talking to Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider, who called upon the interior minister in Islamabad.

According to Radio Pakistan, the interior minister said the struggle for freedom of Kashmiris cannot be suppressed by Indian repression. “The grave human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir and disrespect to UN resolutions on Kashmir should be a matter of concern for the world body and international community,” the minister said.

Nisar’s remarks came a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif urged powerful world leaders to call upon the Indian government to immediately stop bloodshed in occupied Kashmir and implement relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Highlighting the violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws in the occupied territory, the primer reminded the permanent members of the UNSC to fulfill their responsibility of the Kashmir dispute — the oldest internationally recognised unresolved dispute on UNSC agenda.



Indian-held Kashmir has been in the grip of widespread protests against Indian rule for more than two months, sparked by the killing of a popular rebel leader in a gun battle with soldiers on July 8.

Over 100 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in the deadly protests and clashes, the worst violence to hit the region since 2010. Several rebel groups have for decades fought Indian soldiers – currently numbering around 500,000 – deployed in the territory, demanding independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting.