New Delhi, Jan 14:
India on Saturday took strong objection to the recent visit of British High Commissioner in Pakistan to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), terming it as “highly objectionable” and “unacceptable”.
The Government of India lodged a strong protest with the British government over the development.
British High Commissioner in Pakistan Jane Marriott visited Mirpur in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) on January 10 and met its so-called ‘President” Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry.
“India has taken a 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 January 10,” External Affairs Ministry said in a statement here.
“Such infringement of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is unacceptable,” it said.
The statement said foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra has “lodged a strong protest with the British High Commissioner in India on this infringement”. The Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are, have been and shall always remain an integral part of India.
The delegation of Marriott included Richard Lindsay, Head of the Pakistan and Afghanistan Security Operations Department in the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sam Sherman, Albert David, Russ Macpartland, Sneha Lala, Aakash Ashraf and Adeela Khan.
