Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak’s visit to the Indian Held Kashmir on Friday along with a six-member delegation raised eyebrows in the diplomatic circles here and Islamabad moved swiftly to remind Kabul of the disputed status of the territory.
"We have conveyed to the Afghan side that they need to appreciate the international status of Kashmir as a disputed territory.
He, however, did not go into the specifics of when, where and at what level this concern was conveyed to the Afghan government.
In a signal that Pakistan may not actually be too pushed about it, he remained non-committal on the question of whether Islamabad also planned to raise the issue with India. Wardak, who is on a week-long visit to India, is the first Afghan minister to be taken to the internationally-recognised disputed territory in 30 years, a clear signal of deepening of Indo-Afghan strategic ties. The stated purpose of his visit, which is said to carry much symbolism, is to draw lessons from India's 'success story' of countering insurgency and fighting the "mutual threat" of terrorism.
In another sign of growing military cooperation with India, the Afghan defence minister indicated that military officials from his country could soon visit the disputed territory to learn from the Indian experience in fighting militancy.
IRNA, the official news agency of Iran, reported that on arrival in Srinagar on Friday, the Afghan defence minister was taken to Badamibagh where he was given presentation on Indian Army's anti-militancy operations and briefed by top military commanders.
"The very fact that the Afghan defence minister is being taken to Kashmir indicates the significance of the visit and the underlying message that will go across to Pakistan," noted IRNA on the eve of the visit. The Afghan defence minister's visit to Srinagar took place on a day when serious clashes were reported in the summer capital where police tear-gassed and baton-charged protesters demanding probes into nearly 1,000 unmarked graves discovered in held Kashmir over the past two years.
Two weeks ago, the Association of Parents of Disappeared People said it had found 940 'nameless graves' in the Uri district.
The Amnesty International also took note of it and asked the government to determine if any graves contained the bodies of those listed as missing. According to human rights groups, 70,000 to 80,000 Kashmiri freedom fighters have been killed by the Indian troops in the heavily-militarised disputed region since 1989, and hundreds have gone missing after arrests by the security forces. The local human rights groups put the number of missing people at 8,000.
