Pakistan should vacate Indian territory under its illegal and forcible occupation: MEA 

Randhir Jaiswal. File Photo: YouTube/@MEAIndia

India on Tuesday (March 18, 2025) hit out at Pakistan, asking it to “vacate” Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) made the comment after the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks, made in a podcast interview, where he said that India’s attempts to normalise relations with Pakistan had been met with “hostility and betrayal”.

Responding to Mr. Modi’s remarks, Islamabad had on Monday (March 17, 2025) accused India of “fomenting terrorism in Pakistan” and of “state sanctioned oppression” in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The world knows that the real issue is Pakistan’s active promotion and sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. In fact, this is the biggest roadblock to peace and security in the region. Instead of spreading lies, Pakistan should vacate Indian territory under its illegal and forcible occupation,” MEA’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, calling upon Islamabad to withdraw from the POK.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had also weighed in on the matter, and said the West-led global order had given rise to several questions, including one on “illegal occupation” of India’s territory.

“We all speak of sovereignty and territorial integrity. It’s a vital principle and bedrock of global rules. But after the Second World War, the longest standing illegal occupation of a territory pertains to India — what we saw in Kashmir,” Mr. Jaishankar said, indirectly referring to the POK while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue conference on Tuesday (March 18, 2025).

Mr. Jaishankar referred to the POK while explaining Western policies at the U.N. that displayed shortcomings or contradictions in the West-dominated world order. He also made an indirect reference to Western countries’ willingness to work with military dictatorships in Pakistan, while rejecting similar military coups in other countries citing democracy and freedom.

The Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs had commented on Monday (March 17, 2025) on Mr. Modi’s podcast to Lex Friedman, saying the Indian PM’s remarks were “misleading”. In his remarks, Mr. Modi had recalled the mini-SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit that was organised at the time of his swearing-in ceremony on May 26, 2014, to which Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was invited. “When I became Prime Minister, I especially invited Pakistan to my swearing-in ceremony so that we could turn over a new leaf, yet every noble attempt at fostering peace was met with hostility and betrayal,” Mr. Modi had said in his conversation Mr. Friedman.

In its response, the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday (March 17, 2025) referenced the “Jammu and Kashmir dispute”. “They conveniently omit the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which remains unresolved for the last seven decades, despite India’s solemn assurances to the United Nations, Pakistan, and the Kashmiri people,” a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan said.

The remarks came two days after authorities in Pakistan had blamed India and Afghanistan for supporting the Baloch Liberation Army that carried out a deadly attack on the Quetta-Peshawar Jaffar Express on March 11.

“The anti-Pakistan narrative emanating from India, vitiates the bilateral environment and impedes the prospects for peace and cooperation. It must stop,” the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.