Pakistan rules out inviting Jammu and Kashmir Assembly speaker

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has ruled out inviting Jammu and Kashmir Assembly speaker to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference here, saying it does not recognise and accept the J-K assembly as legitimate one.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Special Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz said Kashmir was a disputed territory and Pakistan does not recognise its assembly.

"Pakistan does not recognise and accept the said assembly as legitimate one," he told reporters here yesterday.

He said Pakistan's principled position on Jammu and Kashmir will be compromised if the speaker of Kashmir is invited to the conference.

"We will never invite the speaker of occupied Jammu and Kashmir Assembly," he said.

Pakistan has not sent an invitation to the J-K Assembly Speaker for the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting to be held from September 30 to October 8 in Islamabad while invitations have been sent to all the other Speakers in India.

India has threatened to boycott the event if J-K assembly speaker Kavinder Gupta was not invited.

Indian High Commissioner T C A Raghavan said Pakistan had violated the protocol by not inviting the speaker of Jammu and Kashmir, the Dawn reported.

"In the past Pakistan has invited delegations from Kashmir," he said.

Raghavan said India will not attend the conference if Pakistan did not invite the speaker of J-K assembly.