India slams Pakistan's 'fanatical mindset' on Kashmir

United Nations: Denouncing Pakistan’s “fanatical mindset,” India’s Permanent Representative P. Harish has told Islamabad that ranting about Kashmir in international forums will not justify cross-border terrorism or change the reality of the region being an integral part of India.

He strongly reacted on Friday to Pakistan's former Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua's mention of Kashmir during a UN General Assembly meeting marking the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.

“As is their habit, the former foreign secretary of Pakistan today has made an unjustified reference to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” Harish said. “Frequent references will neither validate their claim nor justify their practice of cross-border terrorism.”

“The fanatical mindset of this nation is well known, as also its record of bigotry”, he said of Pakistan.

“Such efforts will not change the reality that Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will always be an integral part of India,” he declared.

Pakistan has consistently raised the Kashmir issue at the United Nations, but its efforts have been met with little to no support from other countries. Despite its persistent advocacy, Pakistan's claims have been repeatedly rejected by India.

Janjua, who was Pakistan’s foreign secretary from 2017 to 2019, spoke as one of the invitees to the meeting and not as a representative of Islamabad.

She tried to link Kashmir to Gaza—a tactic of Pakistan—and asserted, “Islamophobia is a significant driver of the horrific killings of Muslims in occupied territories, such as in Indian-occupied Kashmir and in Palestine.”

She also obliquely mentioned “lynchings” linked to “Love Jihad” and “cow vigilantes.”

(inputs from IANS)