“Is saal ki Jashn e Azadi hum Kashmir ki Azadi ke naam karte hain,” Abdul Basit, Pakistan’s high commissioner to Delhi said on Saturday, that means “this year’s independence day celebrations are in the name of Kashmir’s (future) independence.”

“I dedicate this year’s 14th August to the freedom of Kashmir,” said Nawaz Sharif.

This latest provocation comes after Pakistan last week proposed foreign secretary-level talks on Kashmir and the ongoing unrest there, an issue India described as irrelevant to any Indo-Pak dialogue.

Pakistan has continued to make provocative comments about Kashmir since India’s security services on July 8 gunned down 22-year-old terrorist Burhan Muzaffar Wani. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed “deep shock” over the killing of Wani, and criticized the use of “excessive” force against civilians in the valley.

Last week, Hizbul Mujahideen’s Syed Salahuddin threatened a nuclear attack on India over the Kashmir issue. Union Minister Venkiah Naidu slammed Salahauddin and asked who gave him the right to speak about Kashmir.

PM Modi on Friday gave a breakdown of the huge numbers of weapons seized in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989-90 and added that since then, more than 5,000 foreign terrorists were killed “which is almost equal to the strength of 5 Battalions.”