Soaring tensions: Indian Lok Sabha condemns ‘Pakistan aggression’
Resolution passed by lower house of parliament calls entire Kashmir part of India.
"There is no partisanship in Pakistan’s National Assembly resolution. This has to be condemned," India’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
NEW DELHI:
In a tit-for-tat motion, India’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution on Wednesday condemning ‘attacks on India by Pakistan’.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said Pakistan must not take India’s patience for granted. “Jammu and Kashmir – including parts forcibly and illegally occupied by Pakistan – are part of India,” she vociferously added.
The move came a day after Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a resolution denouncing the “unprovoked Indian aggression on the Line of Control (LoC)”, mob attack on Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi, demonstrations outside the PIA offices, prevention of the Dosti bus in Amritsar, and “vilification of Pakistan in the Indian media”.
On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha passed a resolution asserting that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir “including the territory under occupation of Pakistan is and shall always be an integral part of India”.
“There is no partisanship in Pakistan’s National Assembly resolution. This has to be condemned. India is planning to counter Pakistan’s resolution with a similar resolution,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had earlier told reporters.
The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament, was then informed that legislators of the Lok Sabha were preparing a resolution against Pakistan, after which the issue was also raised on the floor of the former.
Indian Parliament had passed a similar resolution in March this year after the hanging of Kashmiri militant Afzal Guru who was convicted for the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. At the time, India had rejected the resolution passed by Pakistan’s National Assembly on Guru’s execution, terming it interference in India’s internal affairs.
Skirmishes have flared across the LoC since five Indian soldiers were killed last week in an ambush which Indian Defence Minister AK Antony blamed on the Pakistan Army.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 15th, 2013.
In a tit-for-tat motion, India’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution on Wednesday condemning ‘attacks on India by Pakistan’.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said Pakistan must not take India’s patience for granted. “Jammu and Kashmir – including parts forcibly and illegally occupied by Pakistan – are part of India,” she vociferously added.
The move came a day after Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a resolution denouncing the “unprovoked Indian aggression on the Line of Control (LoC)”, mob attack on Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi, demonstrations outside the PIA offices, prevention of the Dosti bus in Amritsar, and “vilification of Pakistan in the Indian media”.
On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha passed a resolution asserting that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir “including the territory under occupation of Pakistan is and shall always be an integral part of India”.
“There is no partisanship in Pakistan’s National Assembly resolution. This has to be condemned. India is planning to counter Pakistan’s resolution with a similar resolution,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had earlier told reporters.
The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament, was then informed that legislators of the Lok Sabha were preparing a resolution against Pakistan, after which the issue was also raised on the floor of the former.
Indian Parliament had passed a similar resolution in March this year after the hanging of Kashmiri militant Afzal Guru who was convicted for the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. At the time, India had rejected the resolution passed by Pakistan’s National Assembly on Guru’s execution, terming it interference in India’s internal affairs.
Skirmishes have flared across the LoC since five Indian soldiers were killed last week in an ambush which Indian Defence Minister AK Antony blamed on the Pakistan Army.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 15th, 2013.