NEW DELHI: The flaming row over India’s stepped up military excesses in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir state escalated into a virtual pot versus kettle duel on Saturday when Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said Pakistan’s past military excesses give it no leg to stand on in the Kashmir imbroglio, adding that Islamabad should give up the dream of getting Kashmir even after eternity.

Ms Swaraj’s strong statement came in response to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s hope he expressed on Friday that Jammu and Kashmir would soon be part of Pakistan.

“In the last few days, leadership of Pakistan, including its prime minister, has praised as martyr a wanted terrorist commander of the banned terrorist organisation Hizbul Mujahideen, Burhan Wani,” she said.

“He was carrying an award of Rs10 lakh [Rs1 million] on his head because he had perpetrated heinous crimes including murder of elected representatives of local bodies and security forces/personnel.”

Entire Jammu and Kashmir belongs to India, claims minister

Ms Swaraj’s comments left no room for anyone in the bloodied and grieving Kashmir valley to respond, where the Indian government has imposed total gag orders after the military shot dead dozens of civilians who were protesting against Wani’s death.

“Even more condemnable than these deplorable attempts from across our border to incite violence and glorify terrorists is the fact that these attempts have been undertaken by Pakistan’s state machinery in active partnership with UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed and other leading terrorists belonging to internationally proscribed organisations,” Ms Swaraj said.

“The country which has used fighter planes and artillery against millions of its own people has no right whatsoever to point a finger against our brave, professional and disciplined police and other security forces,” she said in an oblique reference to the Pakistani military operations in the erstwhile East Pakistan.

“Their restraint and respect for their fellow citizens is evident in the unusually high number of the injured personnel — more than 1,700 — in the violence unleashed with the support from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Behind Pakistan’s unabashed embrace and encouragement to terrorism lies its delusional though dangerous dream that ‘Kashmir will one day become Pakistan’, as Prime Minister Sharif said yesterday. The whole of India would like to tell the prime minister of Pakistan that this dream will not be realised even at the end of eternity.

“The whole of Jammu and Kashmir belongs to India. You will never be able to make this heaven on earth a ‘haven for terrorists’,” the Indian minister said.

She mocked Mr Sharif’s expression of good wishes for the people of Kashmir. “Sadly, it’s not Pakistan’s good wishes or moral or diplomatic support but its weapons and terrorism that it has exported to Jammu and Kashmir.

“Pakistan’s dirty money, dangerous terrorists and duplicitous state institutions seek to destabilise the region.”

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2016