Pakistani, Indian delegates clash over Kashmir at UN
New Age Desk 29 September, 2024, 22:20
Pakistani and Indian delegates engaged in a sharp verbal duel at the United Nations on Friday night after prime minister Shehbaz Sharif drew the worldโs attention to Indiaโs policy of brutal coercion and oppression in held Kashmir, reports DAWN.com.
The Indian delegate, Bhavika Mangalanandan, reacted to the prime ministerโs hard-hitting speech at the UN General Assembly in which he referred to New Delhiโs threats and arms build-up. He warned that Islamabad would respond โmost decisivelyโ to any aggression by India.
Mangalanandan, first secretary in the Indian Mission to the UN, claimed that Jammu and Kashmir was Indiaโs internal matter and accused Pakistan of โcross-border terrorismโ.
She also commented on Pakistanโs domestic matters.
Exercising his right of reply, Pakistani delegate Muhammad Faheem dismissed his Indian counterpartโs false narrative, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognised disputed territory.
โIt has never been, nor will ever be, a part of India, nor is it an internal matter,โ Faheem said.
โYet, instead of honouring its obligations, India has chosen the path of repression, subjecting the legitimate aspirations of the Kashmiri people for self-determination through a brutal and oppressive occupation,โ Faheem, third secretary in the Pakistan Mission to the UN, said.
โIndiaโs illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, further intensified this occupation, with nearly one million soldiers deployed to suppress the Kashmirisโ legitimate aspirations,โ he added.
Indiaโs crimes in held Kashmir are โheinous and committed with impunityโ, with innocent civilians targeted through staged encounters, extrajudicial killings, and collective punishment, the Pakistani delegate added.
โEntire villages have been razed, the entire Kashmiri political leadership remains incarcerated, and a media blackout continues to stifle independent voices,โ the Pakistani delegate said.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a number of special rapporteurs have documented these widespread violations, calling for the investigation of human rights violations in India-occupied Kashmir, he pointed out.
Rejecting the Indian delegateโs allegations of terrorism, Faheem said: โIt is ironic that a country which uses terrorism as an instrument of state policy, should attempt to point fingers at others.โ
โIndia, which has been sponsoring terrorism and orchestrating assassination campaigns worldwide, is hardly in a position to lecture others on the issue.โ