India used its Right of Reply at the UN to reject Pakistan’s remarks on Jammu and Kashmir. The sharp exchange underscored New Delhi’s stance that the territory remains an integral part of India.
India hit back at Pakistan at the United Nations, saying it was “regrettable” that Islamabad continued to misuse the world body’s platform to spread “lies and falsehoods” about the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Exercising its Right of Reply in the Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly on Friday under the agenda item on decolonisation, India said Jammu and Kashmir “is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India”.
Member of Parliament Mahima Kumari Mewar delivered India’s response after a statement by Pakistan in the committee, which deals with special political and decolonisation issues. “It is regrettable that Pakistan continues to abuse this august forum by peddling lies and falsehoods about the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.
In a strong reply, Mewar said a country like Pakistan, with an “established” record of military dictatorship, sham elections, incarceration of popular elected leaders, religious extremism and sponsoring terrorism as an instrument of state policy, should in future refrain from “preaching homilies” at the platform.
India also called on Pakistan to stop what it described as grave and ongoing human rights violations in the areas illegally occupied by it, where, it said, the population was in open revolt against Pakistan’s military occupation, repression, brutality and illegal exploitation of resources. Mewar said that in the last few months, the Pakistani armed forces and their proxies had killed dozens of innocent civilians who were agitating for their basic rights, freedoms and basic necessities.
Mewar is part of a visiting delegation of 15 Members of Parliament that arrived in New York earlier this week for a UN familiarisation trip. During the visit, the MPs had a range of engagements at the UN and also met members of the Indian diaspora at a special reception hosted at the Consulate General of India in New York. The exchange at the UN came as India used its Right of Reply to reject Pakistan’s remarks and restate its position on Jammu and Kashmir.
With PTI Inputs
