Pakistan delegation kashmir remark harivansh-Narayan Singh responseExercising India’s right to reply in response to certain references made by Pakistani delegation on J&K at an international forum in Tanzania, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh on Wednesday said that Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of India, and that Pakistan has no locus standi commenting on India’s internal affairs.Speaking at the 153rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Arusha, Tanzania, Singh said, “We deplore the attempts by a delegation to politicise the forum and to bring in unwarranted references to issues which do not fall within the purview of this forum or meeting.”He added that “quite habitually, this (Pakistani) delegation attempts to indulge in propaganda and makes baseless allegations against India. The Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are, and shall always remain integral and inalienable parts of India.”No amount of rhetoric and propaganda from any country can override the fact that accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India was completely legal and irrevocable, he said.“Pakistan has no local sustainability to comment on India’s internal affairs. In fact, it is Pakistan which is in illegal and forcible occupation of India’s territories that it should vacate,” he added.Highlighting the progress Kashmir has seen over the last few years, Singh said, “People of Jammu and Kashmir are progressively moving forward on the path of development and democracy. This was evident in a high voter turnout in both the general elections – 58.5%, the highest in the last 35 years – and 63% in the Assembly elections in 2024. Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a record surge in tourists last year.”Story continues below this adHarivansh arrived in Arusha on Sunday to head the high-level parliamentary delegation at the 153rd IPU Assembly and associated sessions.Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More Tags:KashmirPakistan