VK Singh expresses ‘disgust’ after attending Pakistan Day celebrations

NEW DELHI: Minister of state for external affairs Gen VK Singh has tweeted with the hashtag "DISGUST" after attending the Pakistan Day celebrations in the country's high commission in New Delhi on Monday evening.

Singh, a former Army chief, attended the event where several Kashmiri separatist leaders including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yaseen Malik were also present.

Singh, who was in the party for just a few minutes, didn't appear comfortable while sitting next to Pakistani high commissioner Basit Ali.

"The government of India had to sent an MoS. They sent me and I went there and came back," he said replying to a question about his presence at the reception by a reporter.

Asked specifically whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to attend the event at the Pakistani high commission, he said, "The government of India asked me to go there."

Chairman of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, along with Abdul Gani Bhat, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Gani Lone, Aga Syed Hassan, Mussadiq Adil and Mukhtar Ahmad Waza had held talks with Basit Ali last night.

Basit, who invited them to the Pakistan National Day celebrations, said that India was not against these interactions. However, India hit out, saying "the government of India prefers to speak for itself".

This comes in the wake of a spate of attacks by Pakistan-backed militants in Jammu & Kashmir.