India calls out Pakistan at UN; says Jammu & Kashmir ‘is, was and always will be’ India’s
Speaking at the UN General Assembly’s plenary session on the Security Council Annual Report, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish said Pakistan’s references to Jammu and Kashmir forced India to respond and reminded Islamabad that membership in the Security Council is a “huge responsibility”.
“Pakistan’s unfair reference to an issue that belongs entirely to India, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, forced me to respond. Pakistan has also decided not to protect this forum from its misuse of the August UN platforms for its own divisive political interests,” Harish said. he said.
He also criticized Pakistan’s behavior as a current member of the UN Security Council.
“The abuse of Pakistan’s presence in the Security Council, including the dissemination of various misinformed and misleading communications, also testifies to this counter-productive approach. I would like to remind Pakistan that being a member of the UN Security Council is a great responsibility. This is not a forum to peddle biased and false narratives,” he said.
Reiterating India’s position on Jammu and Kashmir, Harish said there was no uncertainty regarding the status of the Union Territory.
“I would like to state this loud and clear. Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. Any claims to the contrary are baseless, devoid of historical facts and inconsistent. Pakistan’s empty rhetoric and hollow claims will not change this fundamental fact.”
These remarks came during discussions on the annual report of the Security Council, in which Pakistan raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. India has consistently maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is an internal issue and has opposed raising the issue in multilateral forums.
During the session, India also renewed its call for reform of the UN Security Council, arguing that the current structure no longer reflects contemporary geopolitical realities.
“Maintaining the status quo has not enabled the Security Council to function effectively so far and cannot do so in the future,” Harish said. he said, advocating for the expansion of both permanent and non-permanent membership categories.
The UN intervention came a day after India lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over its plans to hold elections for the so-called Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, including Gilgit and Baltistan regions, “are integral and inalienable parts of India as a result of the full, legal and irrevocable accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Friday.
“The Government of India categorically rejects any attempt to bring material change to areas under illegal occupation by Pakistan and underlines that such actions cannot hide the fact that Pakistan is illegally retaining Indian territory that it is required to vacate,” the ministry said. he said.
