Pak has no locus standi on J&K: Rajnath Singh to Japan’s Prime Minister

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Pakistan has no “locus standi on Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India.” Rajnath Singh also conveyed to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that India’s decision to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir will benefit the people of the region.

According to the officials, in the annual Indo-Japan defence ministerial talks, the two sides discussed ways to further strengthen the existing bilateral defence cooperation and resolved to adopt new initiatives to achieve peace and security in the region.

The ministry said the defence minister also discussed abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and said talks and cross-border terrorism originating from Pakistan cannot go together.

“The lndo-Pacific vision was discussed at length with an expression of India’s preference for a rules-based order along with centrality of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and inclusiveness and security for all,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

“Had an extremely fruitful ministerial level dialogue with Japan’s Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Tokyo. We discussed the full spectrum of India-Japan defence cooperation,” Rajnath Singh tweeted.

“The regular interactions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Abe put the special strategic and global partnership between India-Japan on a higher pedestal”, Rajnath Singh said.

The CEO’s Forum followed by a Business-to-Government (B2G) meeting will also be held in Seoul . The meeting will include the participation of members of defence industry from both sides. The meeting will be conducted with the aim to encourage India-ROK defence industry cooperation.

“The focus of the visit to South Korea will be to explore new areas of defence cooperation including co-development of military hardware,” the official said.