In remarks that are bound to create a massive controversy, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has said that India should forget about becoming the guru of the world if it cannot even become the guru of the SAARC grouping.
“If India can’t be the guru of SAARC, then it can’t be the guru of the world,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister is reported to have said .
SAARC, or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, is an 8-member grouping that consists of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan was a late entrant to the regional grouping and joined it in 2007.
Mufti further called for declaring the two regions of J&K – the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir – as a world peace zone. She further suggested that J&K and PoK be declared SAARC cooperation zone.
Being an Indian politician, she praised Pakistan and China over the CPEC project which India has opposed in no uncertain terms.
Mufti called on the Indian government to connect J&K with the world similar to the manner in which Pakistan and China are connecting the other side of Kashmir.
The remarks have come days after India slammed China and Pakistan for asking third countries to get involved in the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project.
India has objected to the project over the fact that the CPEC passes through the PoK, which is an Indian territory controlled by Pakistan.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had recently stated that such activities under the CPEC are “inherently illegal, illegitimate and unacceptable”, and will be treated accordingly by India.
He had added: “We have seen reports on encouraging proposed participation of third countries in so-called CPEC projects. Any such actions by any party directly infringe on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. India firmly and consistently opposes projects in the so-called CPEC, which are in Indian territory that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan.”
