Khawaja Asif dismisses Indian defence minister’s remarks on Kashmir

ISLAMABAD:Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif strongly dismissed recent irresponsible remarks by the Indian defence minister on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, calling them irresponsible and misleading.

Asif said the comments were another attempt to distort internationally recognised legal realities through political rhetoric and coercive posturing, he wrote on his social media platform X.

He said that such statements do not change the status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, nor do they help promote regional peace, stability, or meaningful dialogue.

He said Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally recognised disputed territory, the final disposition of which is to be determined in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the freely expressed will of the Kashmiri people.

Asif said India’s repeated attempts to malign Pakistan lack credibility in light of its own well-documented record of state-sponsored terrorism and criminal activities.

In fact, India remains the biggest sponsor of terrorism and perpetrator of instability in South Asia, holding the region hostage to its aggressively revisionist designs.

The Minister said equally alarming is India’s irresponsible rhetoric which risks lowering the threshold for interstate conflict in the region.

He said Pakistan remains committed to peace and dialogue, but its resolve to safeguard its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security is absolute and must never be tested.

Asif said the Indian Defence Minister’s rhetoric is an attempt to deflect attention from internal turmoil and increasing unrest and discontent against Modi’s autocratic and divisive style of governance.