India summons Pakistan High Commissioner over phone call made to Kashmiri separatist leader

ANI photo

New Delhi: India on Wednesday summoned the High Commissioner of Pakistan in connection with a telephone conversation between the neighbouring country's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and senior Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq. Pakistan envoy Sohail Mahmood was summoned by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

Delhi: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood leaves from Ministry of External Affairs. He was summoned by Foreign Secy Vijay Gokhale in connection with telephone conversation initiated by Pak Foreign Min with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq from All Parties Hurriyat Conference. pic.twitter.com/I2tIP1f64O — ANI (@ANI) January 30, 2019

Mahmood was conveyed that Pakistan Foreign Minister's phone call to Farooq amounted to "direct interference" in India's internal affairs. The Ministry of External Affairs said that Qureshi's action was a brazen attempt to subvert India's unity and to violate its sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

"The High Commissioner of Pakistan was summoned by the Foreign Secretary tonight in connection with the telephone conversation initiated by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference," the MEA said.

The Ministry further said the "Foreign Secretary conveyed the Government of India's condemnation in the strongest terms of this latest brazen attempt by Pakistan to subvert India's unity and to violate our sovereignty and territorial integrity, by none other than the Pakistan Foreign Minister."

#WATCH: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood was summoned by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in connection with the telephone conversation initiated by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. pic.twitter.com/aFUG3OeLe8 — ANI (@ANI) January 30, 2019

Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi had telephoned Farooq on Tuesday to brief him about Islamabad's efforts to highlight the human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first time that any minister of the Imran Khan-led Pakistan government has reached out directly to the Kashmiri separatist leadership.

(With inputs from agencies)