ISLAMABAD, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Monday criticized Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks that Pakistan is "glorifying terrorists" and said the Indian leader has tried to divert attention from the violence in Kashmir.
Prime Minister Modi in his speech to mark India's 70th Independence Day also alleged that Pakistan is "involved in human rights abuses" in its large province of Balochistan and in its controlled-Kashmir.
Responding to Modi's speech, Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser, Sartaj Aziz, said that Modi was only trying to divert world attention from the grim tragedy that has been unfolding in the Indian-controlled Kashmir over the past five weeks.
"Thousands of unarmed youth are protesting every day for their right of self-determination. More than 70 innocent Kashmiris have been killed and more than 6000 injured," Aziz said in a statement.
He said there is constant curfew and complete media blackout for the past 37 days, adding these events have nothing to do with terrorism but is an indigenous movement for self-determination, a right promised to the Kashmiris by the UN Security Council.
"At this time, the contrast between the Indian Occupied Kashmir and the Azad Jammu and Kashmir could not be more stark," the Pakistani adviser said.
He said Prime Minister Modi's reference to Balochistan, which is an integral part of Pakistan, only proves Pakistan's contention that India through its main intelligence agency RAW, has been fomenting terrorism in Balochistan.
"India should recognize that the core issue of Kashmir cannot be resolved by bullets. It requires a political solution, through serious negotiations between India and Pakistan," Aziz said in conclusion.
Modi's Independence Day speech came as the Indian government struggles to contain the unrest in Indian-controlled Kashmir in the wake of the killing of 22-year-old militant Burhan Wani, terror outfit Hizbul Mujahiddin's poster boy for new militancy, on July 8 by Indian security forces. More than 60 people have been killed in the violence so far.
"They (Pakistan) glorify terrorists who attack us. (But) India had cried with sorrow when nearly 130 children were killed in a massacre by the Taliban in Peshawar two years ago," Modi said.
