MUMBAI: India said on Saturday it had lodged a protest over a senior British diplomat’s visit to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), saying the trip this week had infringed on India’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott visited AJK, along with an official from the UK Foreign Office, on Jan 10, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra has lodged a “strong protest” to the British High Commissioner to India about the visit, the ministry said, calling the trip “unacceptable”.

Asked to comment on the Indian protest, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office confirmed Marriott’s visit and added: “She met the UK-Pakistani diaspora, played in a football match with street children and visited a bakery.”

FM Jaishankar to visit Iran to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues

Iran visit

India’s foreign minister will make a two-day trip to Iran from Sunday, following Western air strikes against Yemen’s Houthi fighters over the group’s attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

S. Jaishankar’s visit also comes a month after a drone attack on a ship near Indian waters that the United States blamed on Iran.

A government statement issued on Saturday said that Jaishankar would meet his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to discuss “bilateral, regional and global issues”, without giving further detail.

The Houthis have carried out scores of drone and missile strikes on the key international route through the Red Sea since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza on October 7.

Many vessels have been rerouted from the Red Sea due to drone and missile attacks carried out by the Houthis in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

India has significantly stepped up its own maritime patrols in the Arabian Sea to “maintain a deterrent presence” after the string of attacks on vessels.

In December a drone attack hit the MV Chem Pluto oil tanker 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) off the coast of India, which the United States blamed on Iran — claims Tehran dubbed “worthless”.

Earlier this month, India’s navy said it had rescued 21 crew members from a vessel in the Arabian Sea after a hijacking distress call.

Jaishankar said on Thursday he had spoken to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken about “maritime security challenges, especially (in) the Red Sea region”.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2024