*New Delhi:* India has expressed its “strong opposition” to the commentsmade by United Nations General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir on Kashmirduring his visit to Pakistan. Dismissing his “unwarranted references” onJammu and Kashmir, the Ministry of External Affairslink(MEA)in a strongly worded statement called the comments “unacceptable”.
The statement said, “when an incumbent President of the UN General Assemblymakes misleading and prejudiced remarks, he does a great disservice to theoffice he occupies” adding, his “behaviour is truly regrettable and surelydiminishes his standing on the global platform.” India also dismissedequating of Palestine and J&K saying that there is no ” basis forcomparison to other global situations.”
During his Pakistan visit, the UNGA PresidentlinkequatedPalestine with Jammu and Kashmir issue and said it’s the “duty of Pakistanto bring this to UN Platform more strongly”.
Volkan Bozkır is a Turkish diplomat and politician and the first TurkishNational to hold the post of President of the United Nations GeneralAssembly. The term of the presidency of UNGA is for a year and he isexpected to remain impartial.
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The comments will be seen as a violation of the code of ethics mentioned inAnnex XI (a) for the President of the General Assembly as enshrined underresolution 70/305 of 13 September 2016. The Annex, para two says, “ThePresident shall perform his or her duties and responsibilities in animpartial and equitable manner and in full honesty and good faith”.
Para three of the same Annex states that President “shall avoid any action”that “might result in or create the appearance of” giving “unwarrantedpreferential treatment to any State..”, in this case, is Pakistan.
