Islamabad: An official of the Indian High Commission in Pakistan staged a walkout of a SAARC meeting over the presence of a minister from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) at the event, according to source in Islamabad. Diplomat Shubham Singh, left the meeting to register India’s protest over the presence of PoK minister Chaudhary Muhammad Saeed at the SAARC Chambers of Commerce and Industry meet on the SAARC Charter Day in Islamabad on Sunday.
India considers Kashmir as its integral part and does not recognise any minister for PoK. In 2016, India had pulled out of the 19th SAARC summit in Islamabad after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri. The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghan also declined to attend. No SAARC meet has happened ever since. India called off the foreign minister-level talks with Pakistan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September after the brutal killing of cops in J&K and the release of a stamp by Pak glorifying militant commander Burhan Wani.
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