India Hits Back After Pakistan Declares 'Black Day' Over Kashmir

New Delhi: India delivered another strong message to Pakistan today, asking it to stop interfering in its internal affairs after its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced that the country would observe Tuesday, July 19 as "black day to express solidarity with Kashmiris."

Addressing a cabinet meeting in Lahore, Mr Sharif again lionised Burhan Wani, the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist killed in Kashmir last week, calling him a "martyr." He had earlier this week praised him as a "Kashmiri leader" drawing sharp criticism from India.

"Completely and unequivocally" rejecting the Pakistan cabinet's decision today, New Delhi said in a statement, "We hope that Pakistan will desist from further interfering in India's internal affairs and destabilizing the situation in South Asia through support to terrorism and other subversive acts."

It said Pakistan has no locus standi in Kashmir and the "continued glorification of terrorists belonging to proscribed terrorist organizations makes it amply clear where Pakistan's sympathies continue to lie."

India has accused Pakistan of attempting to derive political mileage out of the clashes in Kashmir that erupted amid protests over Burhan Wani's killings and said "attempts in Pakistan by various players to ingratiate themselves to the people of J&K in the run up to the so-called elections in territories under Pakistan's illegal occupation will not succeed."

Earlier today, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja M Asif had in a series of provocative tweets referred to the so-called "elections" on July 21. He also compared this week's clashes in Kashmir to the Gujarat riots of 2002, calling it an "an extention & re enactment of ethnic cleansing started by Modi in Gujrat (sic)."
 Burhan Wani, 22, was killed in south Kashmir in an intelligence-led police operation. For months before his death he made nimble use of social media to attract and recruit young, educated men for the Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest terror group in Kashmir.

In protests that followed, police stations and vehicles were set on fire. 40 people have died in the clashes since then and over 1600 have been injured.