UNITED NATIONS – Pakistan has rejected an Indian claim that Jammu andKashmir is an integral part of India, saying it is a disputed territorypending a final settlement of the decades old dispute between the two SouthAsian countries.
“Jammu and Kashmir never was – and never will be, part of India,” SaadWarraich, a Counsellor at the Pakistan Mission to the UN, told the GeneralAssembly which concluded its debate on the responsibility to protectcivilians, its first in nine years,
Exercising his right of reply to Indian diplomat Sandeep Kumar Bayyapu’sclaim of Kashmir being India’s integral part before the Assembly recessedfor the weekend, Warraich said that several UN Security Council resolutionsexpressly recognized the status of Jammu and Kashmir, and that their legalstanding was “firm and abiding.”
The Indian diplomat had reacted to Pakistan UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi’sstatement during the Assembly debate in which she referred to thedeteriorating situation in Indian occupied Kashmir, including the ongoingkillings and mass blinding of innocent civilians.Bayyapu accused the Pakistani envoy of misusing the UN platform to make “anunwarranted reference” to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
On Monday, Warraich, the Pakistani diplomat, rebutted the Indian chargesand said that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had identified manysystematic violations In the Indian occupied Kashmir. “As the report notes,the situation is exacerbated by parallel judicial structures built with theexpress objective to “impede accountability and jeopardize the right ofremedy for the victims of human rights violations.”
“Repeating groundless accusations and fabrications do not lend themcredibility,” Warraich said. “They may, at best, satisfy a self-delusionalnotion of reality, but a farce can only go, thus far.”
In his second right of reply, the Indian diplomat again repeated hisallegations against Pakistan.Pat came the reply from the Pakistani diplomat, “No amount of obfuscationby India can alter the incontrovertible reality of the grim human rightssituation in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir or the illegality of itsoccupation.”