Pak misused platform to discuss J&K: MEA

MEA SAID THE SAARC FUND PROPOSED BY PM WAS OPERATIONALISED AND INDIA HAD GOT REQUESTS FROM MEMBER COUNTRIES

NEW DELHI: India slammed Pakistan on Thursday for raising Kashmir during a SAARC videoconference earlier this week, saying it was not a political platform, but a humanitarian one, and Islamabad “misused” it.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar also said the emergency SAARC fund proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to combat coronavirus was operationalised and India had received requests from member countries for assistance.

“A crisis of this magnitude does not recognise borders. In this spirit, the prime minister had called the SAARC video-conference on coronavirus. The platform was not political, but humanitarian. They misused it,” Kumar said on Pakistan raising Kashmir during the video-conference.

The MEA also said it was being planned to evacuate the next batch of Indians from Italy over the weekend.

“We have evacuated 590 people from Iran, where the situation is very severe. The Indians infected with coronavirus in Iran have been segregated and taken care of very well. We believe that they will recover and we will bring them back,” Additional Secretary in the MEA Dammu Ravi said.

He also said the ministry was strengthening its COVID-19 control room. “Right now, 25-30 people are working in the control room. They work in shifts. We are getting about 400 e-mails and 1,000 calls in a day,” Ravi said.

Zafar Mirza, special adviser on health to Prime Minister Imran Khan, represented Pakistan in the video conference. In his remarks, Mirza had referred to Kashmir while calling for emergency aid being accessible to all regions in the member states of the Saarc.

In his concluding remarks, Mirza had said Pakistan hoped Saarc members would “provide access to emergency assistance to all our regions in our countries”.

He had added, “In this regard ... it is a matter of concern that Covid-19 has been reported from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and in view of the health emergency it is imperative that all lockdown in the disputed territory must be lifted immediately.”