Pak raises Kashmir issue in Maldives Parliament, India hits back

Maldives Parliament witnessed a heated exchange of arguments on Sunday during South Asian Speakers Summit between India and Pakistan over the withdrawal of J&K special status.

New Delhi/ Male:India and Pakistan on Sunday had a heated exchange during the South Asian Speakers' Summit in the Maldives after the Pakistani side tried to raise the issue of abrogation of Article 370 provisions on Jammu and Kashmir.

The Pakistani representative referred to the Kashmir issue after which a point of order was raised by India and a strong rebuttal was given by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harviansh.

"We strongly object to raising the internal issue of India here and we also reject the politicisation of this forum by raising issues which are extraneous to this summit," Harviansh said.

The Indian delegation in the summit is led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories.

Pakistan has been trying to raise the issue at various international fora, but India has maintained that it is an internal matter.

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