New Delhi: In the strongest message yet delivered by the new Narendra Modi government to Pakistan, it has made it clear that India is no longer willing to take any provocation by its neighbour and that henceforth, J&K would be a strictly bilateral matter.
Indicative of the tough approach of the BJP regime, top-level sources in the government on Wednesday make it clear it would not be willing to take lying down any provocation from Pakistan.
Neither would it consider Kashmiri separatist leaders stakeholders in efforts to resolve the J&K problem.
Indeed, within hours of the Pakistan high commissioner to India Abdul Basit asserted today that Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders are "legitimate stakeholders" in the efforts to find a solution to the Kashmir issue, New Delhi hit back saying there are only two "stakeholders" on J&K, India and Pakistan.
Rejecting the Pak envoy's contention that the Hurriyat is a stakeholder, external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said only India and Pakistan are stakeholders and this was "a principle which is the bedrock of our bilateral relations" and which was also reaffirmed in the 1999 Lahore Declaration.
In speaking thus, the Modi government also appears to be seeking to cut down to size the separatist leadership that's been assiduously courted by Pakistan over the years.
India also sough to convey yet another message to its neighbour, that it's no longer be willing to overlook Pak engagement with the Hurriyat.
And that there would be no talks if this continued as henceforth, there would be adherence to what has been stated in the 1972 Simla agreement and the Lahore Declaration.
The toughening of the Indian position comes after the Pak envoy went ahead and met Hurriyat leaders disregarding Indian objections.
