Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said the recent confrontation between China and India on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the “essence of the Indian government’s Hindutva thinking”.
The foreign minister added the Hindutva agenda of New Delhi will destroy peace in the region.
“India’s stubbornness led to a skirmish on May 9, but it has now turned into a bloody confrontation,” FM Qureshi said. “If India keeps this Hindutva bigotry up, the situation will get worse.”
The foreign minister cited reports of the June 15 violent clashes between the nuclear-armed states at the LAC which resulted in at least 20 Indian troops being killed.
The FM asserted that the Chinese government had tried to resolve the territorial issue through dialogue but India continued construction in the disputed area.
“China’s position is principled,” Qureshi said. “Tibet and Ladakh’s 3,500 km area is a disputed border area between India and China and if India thinks that it will just take the area, then it may not be acceptable to China.”
The FM further said that Pakistan has rejected the unilateral move taken by India on August 5 and China has also objected.
“India is pursuing a mindset of fanaticism rather than rationality,” he said. “The attitude they have towards their minorities in their country is obvious to all. Pakistan is a peace-loving country. We want peace and stability in the region.”
Pakistan’s efforts for peace in Afghanistan are in front of the whole world, FM further added.
“If India thinks it will be intimidated by its aggressive behaviour, then it is their misunderstanding,” the FM asserted.
He further added that Pakistan had offered to resolve the issue through dialogue with India, which was rejected by the Indian government. “You saw that in February and Pakistan gave a full response,” he added.
The Indian army said on Tuesday that 20 of its soldiers were killed in clashes with Chinese troops at a disputed border site, in a major escalation of a weeks-long standoff in the western Himalayas. On Saturday, top Chinese and Indian military officials held high-level talks on to resolve the latest border standoff between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.The talks were held at the Maldo border outpost on the Chinese side of the LAC, the de facto border between the two countries.
