ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday gave a shut-up call to India saying it has no right to decide the future of Kashmir.

Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said the “verdict on the future of Kashmir” can only be given by the “people of Kashmir not by the external affairs minister of India”.

His comments came after his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj accused Islamabad of an ‘unabashed embrace of terrorism’ and warned its stated goal of detaching Kashmir from India ‘will not be realised to the end of eternity’.

Sushma’s attack was targeted directly at Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who told a rally last day in Azad Jammu and Kashmir that the held Kashmir would soon become part of Pakistan.

Nawaz said the freedom movement cannot be stopped and will be successful as he prayed for the people of Kashmir suffering from the brutality of Indian forces.

Last week, Pakistan protested against India in the United Nations and elsewhere against the blatant violation of human rights in held Kashmir.

India alleged Pakistan of instigating the recent violence in Kashmir where nearly 50 people died and 3,000 were injured in clashes after the shooting of 22-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen operational commander Burhan Wani on July 8. Prime Minister Nawaz and his top ministers eulogised Wani.

Sushma said: “All of Kashmir belongs to India,” after India asked Pakistan to withdraw from the AJK as the Indian forces continued to unleash a wave of terror in held Kashmir.

India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh had also accused Pakistan of backing the unrest in Kashmir.

In a statement, Sartaj Aziz said the United Nations Security Council had promised the right to determine their future.

He said India should allow the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise this right through a free, fair and UN supervised plebiscite in held valley.

He said government and the people of Pakistan remained firmly committed in their moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmiris’ indigenous movement for self-determination.

He urged the UN, International Community and the Human Rights Organisations to play their role in stopping the Indian atrocities in the Kashmir against innocent people.

Earlier, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said there was extreme pain and anguish among the people of Pakistan on the brutalities being committed against the unarmed and innocent Kashmiri people who are only exercising their right to peaceful protest.

He said that Pakistan categorically rejected the Indian claim that Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir was its integral part.

Analyst Dr Pervez Iqbal Cheema said India labelled the freedom movement in Kashmir as a terrorist activity, “but no one is supporting its contention.”

He said a fact finding mission should be constituted to review the situation in Kashmir. “Wherever, our embassies or diplomatic missions are, they should raise voices for Kashmir cause,” he added.

Cheema said Pakistan should tell the world about Indian brutalities and realities in Kashmir. “Anti India voices are being raised in India, which must be told to global community. Pakistan should continue the pressure on India about the Kashmir issue,” he said.