Don’t meddle, J&K integral part of India, Erdogan told day later

New Delhi, February 15

India today criticised Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan for raking up the Kashmir issue during his address at the Pakistan parliament, and asked him to desist from interfering in India’s internal affairs. This on a day External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told a senior US Senator India would “settle” the Kashmir issue on its own after the lawmaker brought up the issue during an interaction at the Munich Security Conference.

In his address at a joint session of Pakistan’s parliament yesterday, Erdogan compared the “struggle” of Kashmiri people with that of the fight by Turkish people against foreign domination during the World War I.

“India rejects all references to Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral and inalienable part of India,” Kumar said. “We call upon the Turkish leadership to not interfere in India’s internal affairs,” Kumar said.

Referring to the Kashmir issue during a panel discussion in Munich, Senator Lindsey Graham said the best way to sell democracy would be to settle the Kashmir issue in a democratic way. “Do not worry, Senator. One democracy will settle it and you know which one,” Jaishankar responded. He also said the UN was far less credible than it had been. — PTI