Indian Diplomat exists SAARC meet over PoK minister’s presence

Over the presence of a ‘minister’ from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), an official of the Indian High Commission in Pakistan staged a walkout of a SAARC meeting, news agency PTI said, quoting a source.

On Sunday, Shubham Singh- the diplomat concerned, left the meeting to register India’s protest over the presence of PoK ‘minister’ Chaudhary Muhammad Saeed at the SAARC Chambers of Commerce and Industry meeting on the SAARC Charter Day in Islamabad.

Notably, India considers Kashmir as its integral part and does not recognise any minister for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

India had pulled out of the 19th SAARC summit that was to be held in Islamabad in 2016, after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri.

Following India’s suit, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to attend the SAARC summit. As a result of which the entire summit had to be called off. Since then no SAARC meeting has taken place.

Also, keeping in mind the international happenings, India called off the foreign minister-level talks with Pakistan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September after the brutal killing of policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and the release of a postage stamp by Pakistan that glorified Kashmiri terrorist Burhan Wani.

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