United Nations: India on Wednesday said Pakistan's raising the issue of Kashmir at multiple UN forums is "totally out of context" and constitutes a "clear interference" in its internal affairs.
In one of the Right of Replies, First Secretary in the Indian Mission to the UN Abhishek Singh suggested that Pakistan should refrain from using the Right of Reply and instead "use the right of introspection" to think about the direction in which the country is moving.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi earlier raised the issue of Kashmir during a UN General Assembly plenary session on the Report of the Secretary General on the Work of the Organisation.
She said that consultations with Kashmiris, who are an integral part of the Kashmir dispute, are essential to evolving such a peaceful solution.
"Calling for the termination of these consultations, as a precondition for dialogue, is unacceptable as well as counterproductive," she said in a reference to India. Exercising the Right of Reply, Singh asserted that Kashmir is, has always been and will remain an integral part of India.
"It is all the more ironical that these comments come from a country which is persisting with its illegal occupation of part of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir," Singh said. Rejecting Lodhi's remarks on Kashmir in its entirety, Singh added that the references by Pakistan are "totally out of context and constitute a clear interference in the internal affairs of India."
He expressed "deep regret" that Pakistan has violated the ceasefire on a number of occasions in the past several weeks leading to loss of civilian lives on the Indian side adding that the Indian armed forces and Para-military forces have responded to these "provocations."
In turn, Pakistan exercised its Right of Reply to respond to Singh's comments. Siama Sayed, counsellor at the Pakistan Mission, blamed India for staling the dialogue process by cancelling talks scheduled between the two countries.
"India's insistence on limiting the talks to a one point agenda proved that it is neither interested nor serious in engaging in a genuine dialogue. Using the theme of terrorism, India has not only stalled the bilateral dialogue but also vitiated the overall atmosphere between the two countries," she alleged.
She said Pakistan itself is the biggest victim of terrorism planted on its soil, "some of it emanating from our immediate neighbourhood." Later Lodhi, participating in a Fourth Committee meeting of the General Assembly on decolonisation, again raked up the Kashmir issue.
Singh, again exercising the Right of Reply, said it is "regrettable" that Pakistan again made a reference to Kashmir. "We reject in entirety the untenable comments" made by Pakistan, the "references to Jammu and Kashmir in them being completely irrelevant to the work of this committee," he said.
He stressed that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have and continue to chose their destiny peacefully in accordance with universally accepted democratic principles and practices. "Democracy in Jammu and Kashmir has enabled the people of the state to freely express their wishes and elect their representatives. These elections have been held under the scrutiny of the international media and opinion which has not faulted the electoral process," he said reiterating that Jammu and Kashmir is and will remain an integral part of India.
Exercising the Right of Reply, Sayed said, "No electoral exercise conducted by Indian authorities in Jammu and Kashmir can substitute a free and impartial plebiscite." Responding to her comments, Singh said, "we would like to advice Pakistan to refrain from using the Right of Reply and instead use the right of introspection to think about the direction in which their country is moving."
He added that "needless to say that does not require" the time of the UN and its members.
Comments
0 comment