Firmly rejecting Pakistan's claims on Jammu and Kashmir, India said on Monday that the union territory, along with Ladakh, are 'integral and inalienable' part of the country and will always remain so. The remarks were made by India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, after Pakistan raised the Jammu and Kashmir issue during a debate.
Parvathaneni called Pakistan a "global epicentre of terror" and said it continously uses the UN platform to further its "obsessive focus" on harming India and its people. "Pakistan's unwarranted reference to Jammu & Kashmir in today's open debate attests to its obsessive focus on harming India and its people," he said.
"A serving non-permanent Security Council Member that chooses to further this obsession in all meetings and platforms of the UN in pursuit of its divisive agenda cannot be expected to fulfil its designated responsibilities and obligations," he added.
India flags detentions of Imran Khan
Replying at the UN, Parvathaneni also took a dig at Pakistan over its internal political situation and referred to former Prime Minister Imran Khan's arrest, which he said is a way of suppressing free democratic will. Khan has been in jail since August 2023, with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and his family constantly criticising the former PM's arrest.
"Pakistan, of course, has a unique way of respecting the will of its people - by jailing a Prime Minister, by banning the ruling political party and by letting its armed forces engineer a constitutional coup through the 27th amendment and giving lifetime immunity to its Chief of Defence Forces," Parvathaneni said.
India defends decision to place Indus Water Treaty in abeyance
Defending India's decision to place the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, the envoy said Pakistan has repeatedly violated treaty by waging three wars and orchestrating multiple terror attacks. He cited the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, Parvathaneni said Pakistan continues to support terrorism.
"India had entered into the Indus Waters Treaty, 65 years ago, in good faith, in a spirit of goodwill and friendship. Throughout these six and a half decades, Pakistan has violated the spirit of the Treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India," he said.
"It is in this backdrop that India has finally announced that the Treaty will be held in abeyance until Pakistan, which is a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border and all other forms of terrorism," he added.
