India stops PoK 'President' Masood Khan from addressing programme in French Parliament

India has successfully thwarted Pakistan's nefarious attempt to organise a programme of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) President Masood Khan at the French Parliament in Paris, France, after making several diplomatic efforts. The Pakistan Embassy in Paris had wanted to organize a programme in the France Parliament National Assembly and Khan was invited as the Chief Guest for the event.

Following this, the Indian Embassy issued a demarche to the French Foreign Ministry, saying such an invitation would violate the sovereignty of India as the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir, including PoK, is an integral part of India.

After this, the programme was not allowed to air and Khan was replaced by Pakistan diplomat Moin-ul-Haq. The programme was a complete flop. Most of the attendees were Pakistani Embassy officials.

On September 23, Moin-ul-Haq was scheduled to host a dinner in honor of the 'PoK President', but had to cancel the event in anticipation of very few people coming to the event. The French government also sent a strong message to the France-Pakistan Friendship Group to maintain distance from Khan and also the programme.

Earlier, France had snubbed Pakistan`s attempts to internationalise the Kashmir issue by affirming its stance that it remains a bilateral matter and should be resolved by New Delhi and Islamabad through dialogue.

India has asserted that PoK is its territory and it expects to have "physical jurisdiction" over PoK one day. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, addressing his first press conference on completion of 100 days of the Narendra Modi 2.0 government had said, "Yes, our position on PoK is, has been, and will always be very clear. PoK is part of India, and we expect one day that we will have physical jurisdiction over it."