New Delhi: India sent its minister of state for external affairs, Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd), as its representative to the Pakistan National Day celebrations at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on Monday evening, despite Hurriyat leaders, including Mir-waiz Umer Farooq, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik, also attending the event.

This development comes despite objections last year over confabulations between the Pakistan high commissioner and Hurriyat separatists that led to the scrapping of foreign secretary-level talks last August by New Delhi.

The Modi government’s move to send a representative raised eyebrows and triggered a massive controversy since India did not prevent the Hurriyat leaders from attending the event.



After attending the function, Gen. Singh issued a series of intriguing tweets defining “disgust” and “duty” indicating that he may have been unhappy at being deputed to it.




Read: Centre sent me, says General VK Singh

The emphasis on an “atmosphere free from terror and violence” between India and Pakistan assumes significance as just last week Jammu and Kashmir was hit by two terror attacks in as many days. The two countries sparred after Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit’s utterance that India was not against his interactions with Kashmiri separatist leaders. New Delhi made it clear that there was no role for a third party.

However, the Hurriyat leaders said they were trying to assist India and Pakistan in resolving the “complex” issue of Kashmir which needed a political approach.

Gen. Singh said late on Monday evening that he was asked by the government to represent it at the event. “Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd) attended the Pakistan National Day celebrations as the representative of the Indian government. For India, it was a Pakistan National Day event. We are not concerned about the presence of anyone else,” government sources told this newspaper when asked about why India sent a representative when the Hurriyat leaders were also attending the event.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his Pakistan counterpart, Mr Nawaz Sharif, that an atmosphere free of terror and violence was requ-ired for resolving all outstanding issues through bilateral dialogue.