ISLAMABAD - Adviser to PM Sartaj Aziz said yesterday Prime Minister Narendra Modi was only trying to divert world attention from the grim tragedy that has been unfolding in Kashmir over the past five weeks.

Responding to Modi’s provocative Independence Day speech, Aziz said thousands of unarmed youth were protesting every day for their right of self-determination. “More than 70 innocent Kashmiris have been killed and more than 6,000 injured. There is constant curfew and complete media blackout for the past 37 days,” he said in a statement.

He added: “These events have nothing to do with terrorism. It is an indigenous movement for self-determination, a right promised to the Kashmiris by the UNSC.” At this time, he said the contrast between IHK and AJK could not be more stark.

The adviser said PM Modi’s reference to Balochistan only proved Pakistan’s contention that India through its main intelligence agency – RAW - has been fomenting terrorism in Pakistan, which was also confirmed by the public confession RAW officer Kulbhushan Yadav.

Aziz said India should recognise that the core issue of Kashmir cannot be resolved by bullets. “It requires a political solution, through serious negotiations between India and Pakistan.”

“India is a large country, in fact the second largest in the world and this must be acknowledged, but a large country does not automatically become a great country, especially when it unleashes such brute force against innocent citizens to suppress their right to protest or when it deliberately uses pallet guns to permanently destroy the eyesight of over 100 youth,” he added.