As Pakistan raked up the Kashmir issue yet again at the UN General Assembly on Monday, India dismissed the move as unwarranted with a strong reiteration that the State of Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of the country.
After Pakistan’s UN envoy Masood Khan brought up the issue while speaking at a session on the right of people to self-determination, India’s Member of Parliament P Rajeev came up with a strong counter.
“We regret the unwarranted reference made in this forum to the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir. let me be clear and reiterate that Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India, and references such as this only detract from the important cause of the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights to self-determination,” Rajeev said.
The Pakistani envoy claimed that the people of Jammu & Kashmir continue to be denied the right to self-determination, alleging “widespread repression” and “gross and consistent violations of human rights”.
Alluding to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement at the General Assembly in September, Khan had said India wrongly stated that the epicentre of terrorism is in Pakistan.
“The struggle of the people of Jammu & Kashmir cannot be characterised as terrorism. Nor can ‘epicentre of terrorism’ be wrongly located by India to Pakistan, simply because it raises the issue of Jammu & Kashmir in the United Nations. Pakistan is the worst victim of terrorism, whose sources, strategies and execution emanate from our immediate neighbourhood,” Khan said.