Mirwaiz Umer wonders why Pakistan FM's call irks India

Senior Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq wondered on Wednesday why the Pakistan Foreign Minister's telephone call to him had irked India. Addressing the media at the event where another separatist leader, Bilal Gani Lone, renamed his faction of Peoples Conference (PC) as J&K Peoples Independent Movement to differentiate it from his brother Sajad Lone's faction of PC, Mirwaiz Farooq said: "What are they objecting to? Pakistan highlighting the human rights violations committed by Indian soldiers in Kashmir irks New Delhi the most.

"Should the world not know of it? If India cares so much about its image, let them walk their talk of being a democracy and resolve the dispute democratically through talks and hold the promised referendum. "On the one hand India talks about Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat and Jamhooriyat but on the other hand India has unleashed the worst ever policy of repression under the garb of CASO (Cordon and Search Operation) by security forces wherein our youths are being killed mercilessly."

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "had only followed an iron fist military approach to suppress the voice of the people of Kashmir". Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday telephoned Mirwaiz Farooq to brief him about Islamabad's efforts to highlight the human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir blamed on India.

This is the first time that any Minister of the Imran Khan-headed Pakistan government has reached out directly to the Kashmiri separatist leadership.