New Delhi: Days after UK High Commissioner to Pakistan, Jane Marriott, visited Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), India registered a “strong protest” with the British envoy in India, saying the country has “taken a serious note” of the “highly objectionable” visit.
New Delhi considers PoK, of which Mirpur is a part, as part of undivided Jammu and Kashmir.
“Such infringement of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is unacceptable”, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement Saturday. “The Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are, have been and shall always remain an integral part of India”.
Marriott visited Mirpur and its adjoining districts of Bhimber and Kotli Wednesday. These areas are home to a large number of British Pakistani-Kashmiri, according to a report in Pakistan’s newspaper Dawn.
The visit was aimed at promoting people-to-people ties, Marriot said in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
“Salaam from Mirpur, the heart of the UK and Pakistan’s people-to-people ties! 70 percent of British-Pakistani roots are from Mirpur, making our work together crucial for diaspora interests. Thank you for your hospitality!” the envoy wrote in the post.
https:/Twitter.com/JaneMarriottUK/status/1745078793989956042?s=20
This is not the first time a foreign diplomat’s visit to the region has irked New Delhi. In September last year, US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome had “secretly” visited the Gilgit Baltistan region and the Gwadar port.
New Delhi had “raised concerns” about the visit and also rejected the US envoy to India Eric Garcetti’s statement drawing parallels between that and the visit of an American delegation to Srinagar for a G20 event last year.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)