Why IHK on UN agenda if it’s not a dispute: Pakistan

UNITED NATIONS: The Foreign Office of Pakistan on Monday said Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had disowned the United Nations Security Council resolution on Kashmir by calling it an integral part of India in her speech at the UN General Assembly.

“Can the Indian EAM explain if Kashmir is an ‘integral part of India, then why it is on the agenda of Security Council,” Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said on Twitter.“Strange that the Indian EAM is disowning the UNSC resolution and that too at the UN,” Zakaria said in another Tweet.

Sushma Swaraj on Monday asserted that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, a claim that was immediately rejected by Pakistan’s envoy to the UN Dr Maleeha Lodhi.

“My firm advice to Pakistan is: Abandon this dream. Let me state unequivocally that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain so,” said Swaraj.

Speaking in the UN General Assembly, she completely glossed over the atrocities being committed by Indian troops in the Held Kashmir and instead referred to the so-called Balochistan issue.

She called as ‘baseless’ Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s detailed description of gross violations of human rights in the Indian Held Kashmir.

Dr Lodhi called Swaraj’s speech a “litany of falsehoods and baseless allegations,” saying Kashmir was an internationally recognised dispute.

“In fact, it is the oldest item on the UN agenda. Another falsehood she uttered was that there are no human rights violations in Kashmir. The whole world knows the barbaric actions being taken by occupation forces that are a grave violation of human rights. These are amply documented,” she said.

Dr Lodhi said by raising Balochistan, Ms. Swaraj had “blatantly” violated the principles of the UN Charter and international norms, as it was an "internal matter" of Pakistan. 

She also said India was using the Uri incident to blame Pakistan for the ongoing Kashmiri uprising and divert attention from its brutal occupation.

Swaraj claimed that India had not attached any pre-conditions for talks with Pakistan, saying, "We took the initiative to resolve issues not on the basis of conditions, but on the basis of friendship!"

In response, Ambassador Lodhi said, "For the Indian external affairs minister to claim that her country had imposed no preconditions for talks with Pakistan is another flight from reality.

India suspended talks more than a year ago, and has refused to resume these despite repeated offers from Pakistan; the latest one made by the prime minister of Pakistan himself from the rostrum of the General Assembly on 21st September.

"Her entire reference to Pakistan was a vain attempt to divert attention from the grave situation in occupied Kashmir,” said Maleeha Lodhi.

Outside the UN General Assembly, hundreds of Kashmiris and Pakistanis staged a big demonstration denouncing Indian repression and calling on the United Nations to implement its resolutions on Kashmir. Swaraj said Pakistan should give up dreaming of Kashmir as it is the integral part of India.