India expects to gain control over Pakistani Kashmir "one day"September 18, 2019 - 10:55 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - India's foreign minister said on Tuesday, September 17 that the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan belongs to India and that he expected New Delhi to gain physical control over it one day, as the two countries again traded barbs over the disputed territory. India rules the heavily populated Kashmir Valley, while Pakistan controls a wedge of territory in the west of the region that New Delhi describes as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). "Our position on PoK is, has always been and will always be very clear. PoK is part of India and we expect one day that we will have the jurisdiction, physical jurisdiction over it," Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told a news conference. Last month, New Delhi scrapped the special status of its part of Muslim-majority Kashmir in a bid to integrate the territory fully into India, a move that has prompted protests and anger in Kashmir and Pakistan. In a statement, Pakistan's foreign affairs ministry condemned Jaishankar's remarks. "Coming from an occupying state, such irresponsible and belligerent statements have the potential to further escalate tensions and seriously jeopardise peace and security in the region," it said. "Pakistan stands for peace, but would be ready to respond effectively to any act of aggression." The two countries, both nuclear-armed, have twice gone to war over Kashmir. Pakistan has condemned India's decision to change Kashmir's status and said India's crackdown on protests and dissent in the region would drive more of the world's Muslims into extremism. Jaishankar said the revoking of Kashmir's special rights was an internal Indian matter. Photo. AFP Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |