When did Kashmir belong to you? Rajnath Singh asks Pakistan

Leh: Pakistan has no locus standi on Kashmir and no country is backing it on the "current issue", Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday amid Islamabad's efforts to internationalise the Centre's move to abrogate provisions of Article 370.

Addressing a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) event here, Singh asked how can India talk to Pakistan when it keeps trying to destabilise India using terror.

India wants to have good neighbourly relationship with Pakistan, but it should first stop exporting terror to India, Singh said. He asserted that Pakistan has no locus standi on Kashmir. "I want to ask Pakistan, when had Kashmir belonged to it. Kashmir was always part of India," he said.

Pakistan should focus on addressing human rights violations and atrocities in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the Union minister said. He said US Defense Secretary Mark Esper during a telephonic conversation told him that abrogation of provisions of Article 370 was an internal matter of India. "No country is with Pakistan on the current issue," Singh added.