United Nations: India yesterday 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."
