India sent a strong message to Pakistan on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, telling it to “vacate” Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).
The Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments in a podcast interview, in which he said that India’s attempts to improve relations with Pakistan had been met with “hostility and betrayal.” This is what the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
Based on what Mr. Modi said, Islamabad said on Monday (March 17, 2025) that India was “stoking terrorism in Pakistan” and “authorizing oppression” in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The world knows that Pakistan’s support for and promotion of terrorism across borders is the real problem.” In fact, this is the main thing that is keeping the area from being safe and peaceful. Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for the MEA, said, “Instead of spreading lies, Pakistan should leave Indian territory that it is illegally and forcibly occupying.” He also asked Islamabad to leave the POK.
Before, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also spoke out about the issue. He said that the global order lead by the West had raised a number of issues, including the “illegal occupation” of India’s land.
“We all talk about sovereignty and the integrity of the territory.” It’s a basic rule and an important concept. However, India has had the longest-lasting illegal occupation of a region since the Second World War. This is what we saw in Kashmir, Mr. Jaishankar said at the Raisina Dialogue conference on Tuesday (March 18, 2025), referring to the POK in a roundabout way.
Mr. Jaishankar talked about the POK when he talked about Western policies at the U.N. that showed problems or contradictions in the world order controlled by the West. He also made a vague reference to the fact that Western countries are ready to work with military dictatorships in Pakistan but not with similar military coups in other countries, citing concerns about freedom and democracy.
On Monday, March 17, 2025, the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Mr. Modi’s statement in the podcast to Lex Friedman was “misleading.” During his speech, Mr. Modi talked about the mini-SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) meeting that was held at the time of his swearing-in ceremony on May 26, 2014. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was invited to this summit. “Every time I tried to make peace, it was met with hostility and betrayal, even when I invited Pakistan to my swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister so that we could start over,” Mr. Modi told Mr. Friedman over the phone.
The “Jammu and Kashmir dispute” was brought up by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its answer on Monday, March 17, 2025. “They conveniently leave out the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which hasn’t been solved in 70 years, despite India’s solemn promises to the UN, Pakistan, and the people of Kashmir,” a spokesman for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Two days before, Pakistani officials said that India and Afghanistan were helping the Baloch Liberation Army, which was behind the March 11 attack on the Quetta-Peshawar Jaffar Express that killed many people.
“The anti-Pakistan narrative coming from India makes things worse between the two countries and makes it harder for them to work together and live in peace.” “It has to stop,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.
