Diplomatic tensions rise as India objects to British High Commissioner's trip to PoK
By Anish Kumar | First Published Jan 13, 2024, 4:54 PM ISTOn January 10, British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott visited Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Justifying her visit to the area, she said, "70 per cent of British Pakistani roots are from Mirpur, making our work together crucial for diaspora interests".
India on Saturday registered a strong protest against the visit of British High Commissioner in Islamabad to Pakistan occupied Kashmir's Mirpur. Taking serious note of the "highly objectionable" visit of the British High Commissioner in Islamabad, along with a UK Foreign Office official, to Pakistan occupied Kashmir on 10 January, India's ministry of external affairs said that such infringement of India's sovereignty and territorial integrity is "unacceptable".
It further informed that Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra has lodged a strong protest with the British High Commissioner in India on this infringement. "The Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are, have been and shall always remain an integral part of India," it said.
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Marriott is the first woman British High Commissioner to Pakistan.
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On January 10, British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott visited Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Justifying her visit to the area, she said, "70 per cent of British Pakistani roots are from Mirpur, making our work together crucial for diaspora interests".
"Salaam from Mirpur, the heart of the UK and Pakistan's people-to-people ties! 70 per cent of British-Pakistani roots are from Mirpur, making our work together crucial for diaspora interests. Thank you for your hospitality!" She said after her visit.
US envoy to Pakistan had also done the same in past. In September 2023, US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome also had multi-day private visit to Gilgit-Baltistan. The region India considers as an integral part of India.
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The Ministry had also then reacted sharply and raised the matter with the US. The US envoy to Pakistan had mentioned PoK as 'Aazad Jammu Kashmir'. The then MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said, "We have objections regarding the visit and the meetings in PoK by the US envoy and we have conveyed the same."
In October 2022 too, Ambassador Donald Blome visited Muzaffarabad.
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