'How can anything foreign be in jugular vein?': India hits back at Pak Army chief over Kashmir remark

Ministry of External Affairs.

Reacting to Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir's statement on Kashmir, the Ministry of External Affairs on April 17 remarked: "how can anything foreign be in a jugular vein."

During a weekly presser, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, answering a question on India's response to Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir's comments, said: "How can anything foreign be in a jugular vein? This is a union territory of India. Its only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories by that country."

Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir has said Kashmir is Islamabad's "jugular vein" and will be so and that Pakistan "won't forget it". He has also defended the two-nation theory that was the basis for the Partition in 1947.

Addressing a gathering of Pakistanis based abroad, General Munir said they were the country's ambassadors and must not forget that they belong to a "superior ideology and culture". "You should definitely tell Pakistan's story to your children. Our forefathers thought that we are different from the Hindus in every aspect of life. Our religions, our customs, traditions, thoughts and ambitions are different. That was the foundation of the two-nation theory that was laid."

Describing his exposition of the two nation theory, General Munir said: The two-nation theory was the basis for the movement demanding a separate state for Muslims in the years before Independence. The movement was led, among others, by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who became the first Governor General of Pakistan. The two-nation theory runs contrary to the idea of a common history and heritage that India and Pakistan share, and also goes against tenets of secularism.