Pak raising Kashmir at UN is 'clear interference': India

United Nations, Oct 15: India has strongly dismissed Pakistan's raising of the Jammu and Kashmir issue at multiple fora in the UN, asserting that the references are "totally out of context" and constitute a "clear interference" in its internal affairs.

India also asserted that Kashmir is, has always been and will remain an integral part of India.

In one of the Right of Replies exercised by India to respond to comments by Pakistan's envoy to the UN, 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 first 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 to the dispute.

"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 said the references by Pakistan are "totally out of context and constitute a clear interference in the internal affairs of India."

Singh also 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.

The Indian armed forces and para-military forces have responded to these "provocations", he said. Following Lodhi's speech, India's envoy to the UN Asoke Mukerji said in his remarks that "it is most unfortunate" that the Pakistani envoy has chosen to refer to issues that are "extraneous to the debate that we are having today".

"We have diplomatic relations with Pakistan and such issues should be addressed in the framework of these relations, instead of being aired elsewhere," he said.

Alluding to the four-point peace initiative announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his address to the UN General Assembly, Lodhi said the proposal "should have evoked a positive response from India.But this has not been forthcoming. Nevertheless, Pakistan stands ready to engage in a dialogue on all outstanding issues."

PTI