India on Friday took on Pakistan for making a reference to Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations, reminding it that being a part of the global body is a matter of huge responsibility and that it is not a forum for peddling “biased and false narratives”.
India’s permanent representative to UN Parvathaneni Harish said on Friday that he was compelled to respond to Pakistan due to the country’s “unwarranted reference to a matter strictly internal to India”.
Also read: ‘Sanctions threats would boomerang under PM Modi’s leadership’: Putin backs India’s autonomy
“The unwarranted reference by Pakistan to a matter strictly internal to India, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, has compelled me to respond. Pakistan has decided not to spare this forum either from their characteristic misuse of august UN platforms for their divisive political interests,” Harish said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
“Abuse of its presence on the Security Council by Pakistan, including through the circulation of several 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 huge responsibility. It is not a forum for peddling biased and false narratives,” he added.
Harish’s retort came after Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN Asim Iftikhar Ahmad raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir during his remarks on Friday at the UN General Assembly on the ‘Annual Report of the Security Council’.
During his remarks, the Indian envoy also made it clear that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so. “Empty rhetoric and hollow claims by Pakistan would not change this fundamental reality. In the interest of time of the wider UN membership, I would not delve any further into this,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
