Rajnath apprises Japanese PM about India's decision on J&K

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo and conveyed to him that India's decision to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir will benefit the people of the region.

Officials here said Singh also told Abe that Pakistan has no locus standi on J&K and that it is an integral part of India. During his wide-ranging talks with Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya, Singh also mentioned the cross-border terrorism originating from Pakistan and said talks and terror cannot go hand-in-hand, they said. The defence minister is on a five-day tour of Japan and South Korea. On Tuesday, he will leave for Seoul from Tokyo.

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 towards achieving peace and security in the region, officials said. "Had an extremely fruitful ministerial level dialogue with Japan's Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya. We discussed the full spectrum of India-Japan defence cooperation," Singh tweeted.