No country has any locus standi to comment on matters internal to India (File)
New Delhi:
The whole world knows about Pakistan’s role in supporting terrorism and no amount of denial can hide this truth, India said on Thursday in a sharp reaction to Islamabad’s objection to references to it and cross-border terrorism in the Indo-US joint statement after their 2+2 dialogue.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the country that provides shelter to “maximum number of UN-proscribed terrorists” should not even attempt to play the victim card.
“The whole world knows truth about Pakistan”s role in supporting terrorism,” he said at a media briefing while answering questions on Islamabad”s reaction to the Indo-US joint statement.
“Even their leaders have time and again spoken about their role with regard to terrorism,” Mr Srivastava said.
In the joint statement, India and the US on Tuesday strongly condemned cross-border terrorism in all its forms and asked Pakistan to take “immediate, sustained and irreversible” action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terror attacks.
In its reaction, Pakistan on Wednesday called it “unwarranted” the reference made towards it.
“We reject the Pakistan-specific reference in the joint statement”, issued by India and the US after their 2+2 ministerial dialogue,” the Pakistan Foreign Office had said in its reaction.
Asked about Pakistan’s objection to changes in the land laws in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Srivastava said it is an internal matter of India and no country has any locus standi to comment on it.
As per amended law, any person from outside Jammu and Kashmir can now buy land in the Union territory.
“You would be aware that the government has taken a number of measures in recent time for socio-economic development and improvement of livelihood in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral part of India.
“Therefore, these decisions relate to internal affairs of India. No country has any locus standi to comment on it,” he said.
