UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan had firmly rejected India’s claim at the United Nations on Friday that Indian Illegally-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir was its integral part, saying the Himalayan state was an internationally recognised disputed territory.
In response to the Indian delegate over Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech on the Kashmir dispute to the UN General Assembly on Friday, Pakistani delegate Saima Saleem said, “Jammu and Kashmir neither is a so-called “integral” part of India, nor it is India’s internal matter.” “Reacting to the Indian claim, Ms Saleem, a counselor at the Pakistan’s Mission to the UN, said, “India remains in occupation of an internationally recognised disputed territory, whose final disposition needs to be decided in accordance with the democratic principle of a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, as provided for under numerous resolutions of the UN Security Council.
"The Indian delegate, Sneha Dubey, while exercising her right of reply to the PM Imran Khan’s statement, also made sweeping allegations about Pakistan’s involvement in terrorism, claiming that the country has a policy of harbouring, aiding and actively supporting terrorism.” In a hard-hitting statement made in exercise of her right of reply, Ms Saleem responded. She said India’s use of the canard of terrorism, regurgitating stale arguments are typical of all oppressors.
“Let me emphasize that India itself is the principal perpetrator, sponsor, financier and abettor of terrorism in the region,” she said, adding that New Delhi was involved in at least 4 different types of terrorism, including resorting state terrorism to suppress the people of Indian Illegally-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K); funding and supporting terrorist organisations like the TTP that conducted numerous cross-border terrorism against Pakistan; financing and organising mercenary terrorist organisations against Pakistan to impede economic growth and prosperity of the region, citing the capture of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav; it’s supremacist ideology has mainstreamed Islamophobia and bigotry against minorities, especially Muslims.
Referring India’s violations of human rights in IIOJK, Saima Saleem said, well documented two reports of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, and also by major human rights organisations but Indian authorities had failed to respond to those reports. Pakistan, she said, has recently released a comprehensive and well-researched dossier containing the entire range of gross, systematic and widespread violations of human rights being perpetrated by Indian security forces in the occupied territory. “We call upon the international community to take cognizance of the compelling evidence and hold India accountable for the heinous crimes.
“If India has nothing to hide, it must accept the UN's Commission of Inquiry and agree to implement the Security Council resolutions stipulating a plebiscite to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their right to self-determination," the Pakistani delegate added.