United Nations: India dismissed Pakistan’s “unsolicited” comments on Kashmir at the UN, maintaining it was a part of India and asserting that free and fair elections were held in that state.
In his address to the UN General Assembly committee that deals with social, humanitarian and cultural affairs, India’s Mayank Joshi said free, fair and open elections were regularly held in Jammu and Kashmir at all levels.
Diyar Khan, a counsellor at Pakistan’s UN Mission, said his country regretted that the people of Jammu and Kashmir had been deprived of their right to self-determination. Self-determination did not lapse with the passage of time, he said. Nor could it be “set aside” by charges of terrorism.
Joshi dismissed as unsolicited Pakistan’s comments about Kashmir and said they were factually incorrect. Free, fair and open elections were regularly held in that state at all levels, he said.
Exercising the right of reply, Pakistan’s delegate escalated the issue, questioning New Delhi calling Kashmir a part of India and citing UN Security Council resolutions describing Kashmir a disputed territory. Regarding elections in Kashmir, he asserted that polls conducted by the Indian authorities could not be a substitute for a UN plebiscite.
The Indian delegate pointed out that the elections in Kashmir had been held under the scrutiny of international media, which had not faulted those elections. Going for another round, the Pakistani representative of Pakistan claimed that the elections were held under what he said was foreign occupation and could not be impartial.
In reply, India’s representative said that the Pakistani delegation’s references to foreign occupation were out of context as Kashmir was a part of India.
Warning that nuclear terrorism threats were a pressing challenge to the global community, India separately called for stronger national and international action to prevent terrorists getting hold of nuclear material.
IANS
