Indian PM digs at Pakistan in Independence Day speech

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unprecedented decision to publicly talk about disputed territories in Pakistan during his independence day speech on Monday, a day after his Pakistani counterpart used his own speech to focus on the Indian-held side of divided Kashmir.

He said people in the Balochistan and Gilgit regions as well as the Pakistani-held side of Kashmir, known by Pakistan as Azad Kashmir, has been thanking him in recent days.

“I have never seen these people. I have never seen these places but they have thanked me," Modi said from the ramparts of the New Delhi's historic Red Fort as he marked India's 70th Independence Day.

He also said Indian parliament had mourned for the 150 Pakistanis killed by the Taliban at a school in the city of Peshawar in 2014, adding: “this is the example of our humanitarian approach, but there are some countries who glorify terrorists."

On Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif used his own speech on Pakistan's own independence day to call for the "freedom of [Indian-held] Kashmir."

India has recently focused more on alleged human rights violations by Pakistan in the southwestern Balochistan region, where there is a strong separatist movement that claims the region was forcibly incorporated into Pakistan after the end of British rule.

Modi raised the issue on Friday at an all-party meeting on the issue of the Kashmir valley, where at least 58 civilians have been shot dead by Indian troops during regular clashes over the past month – an issue Pakistan has frequently criticized India for.

"Pakistan forgets that it bombs its own citizens using fighter planes. The time has come when Pakistan shall have to answer to the world for the atrocities committed by it against people in Baluchistan and PoK [Azad Kashmir],” Modi said at the meet.

Sameer Patil, a Mumbai-based security analyst, told Anadolu Agency that Modi's India was focusing on the issues to counter similar statements made by Pakistan.

“In the last few years India has not shied away from raising the issue of PoK and Baluchistan particularly because Pakistan has been highlighting Kashmir at international forums in the past," Patil said.

Pakistan and India celebrate their independence days on 14th and 15th August respectively, marking the end of British rule in the Indian sub-continent and the partition that created Pakistan as an independent nation.