INDIA & Pakistan Should Find Lasting Solution To Kashmir Issue: Boris Johnson

AS  Pakistan  is fanatically  trying to internationalize  the  so-called  Kashmir   issue,  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has literally accepted  India’s stand that it is a bilateral  issue  between the two neighboring nations. Johnson has said that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people. Both India and Pakistan are UK’s “important partners”, he said responding to a letter received from his party’s MP Bob Blackman. The ruling Conservative Party’s MP has supported India’s decision to revoke Article 370 and withdraw the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Johnson added “The government’s long-standing position remains that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting political solution to the situation in Kashmir, in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.” He also stressed the need for observing “calm and restraint” by New Delhi and Pakistan saying   he remains in regular contact with both Indian and Pakistani governments. Britain continues to monitor the situation in Kashmir closely. “Both India and Pakistan are important partners to the UK. Our respective bilateral relationships continue to flourish. This is demonstrated by cooperation with both countries on a range of issues, as well as the vibrancy of our people-to-people links bolstered by large and active Indian and Pakistani diaspora here in the UK,” Johnson added. Blackman, the north London MP who has been a long-time supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had issued his letter as part of a tit-for-tat letter spat triggered in the UK in the days after the revocation of Article 370. The MP has accused the Opposition MPs of making provocative claims against India which has a long-established tradition of respecting all faiths in his letter. “Constitutional changes are an internal matter for India. There is a widely respected convention that we do not interfere in the domestic affairs of a third country, especially a long-standing friend and ally like India,” he wrote, calling on the British PM to condemn the Opposition Labour Party for breaking from Britain’s long-held position that any matter concerning Kashmir was a “strictly bilateral issue”. Meanwhile in India, Raj Nath Singh Defence Minister and veteran ruling BJP leader, has gone   on record saying Jammu & Kashmir along with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir- (POK) -is an integral part of India. If anything related to Kashmir is to be discussed with Pakistan it will be POK, he said.  Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is in a shaky position following his  Government’s inability to mobilize  international support   in favour of  its stand on abrogation of the special status  from Jammu & Kashmir, remains committed to raise the issue  in the UN General Assembly.(edited by Pranab Kumar Chakravarty with image courtesy  to politicshome.com)