Qureshi-Mirwaiz phone call row: Pakistan protests summoning of its envoy

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ISLAMABAD: In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan on Thursday summoned Indian high commissioner and lodged a protest over summoning of its representative following a telephonic conversation of Shah Mahmood Qureshi with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a Pakistan media report said. 

Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal during a weekly briefing on Thursday said that India had summoned Pakistan’s high commissioner to New Delhi on Wednesday night to lodge a protest over Qureshi’s telephone call to Farooq.

In response, Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua summoned India’s high commissioner to the Foreign Office this morning to lodge a protest over the summoning of Pakistan’s high commissioner to Delhi yesterday, reported Dawn News. 

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has on Tuesday telephoned Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and apprised him of Pakistan’s efforts to highlight the “Kashmir issue at all international forums and to expose brutalities committed by Indian security forces in Kashmir.”

Earlier today, Pakistan’s Foreign Office rejected objection raised by India over Qureshi’s telephone call to Mirwaiz. 

The row started after Qureshi called Mirwaiz on Tuesday and spoke about Islamabad’s efforts to highlight the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir internationally.

In reaction, India told Pakistan on Wednesday to lay off on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood.

Gokhale condemned in “the strongest terms this latest brazen attempt by Pakistan to subvert India’s unity and to violate our sovereignty and territorial integrity, by none other than the Pakistan Foreign Minister”.

Pakistan, however, dismissed India’s objection in a statement, saying, “Kashmir is an unresolved issue between Pakistan and India and acknowledged as such through UN Security Council resolutions, including the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration.