Pakistan must vacate illegally occupied J&K: India at UN
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United Nations: India has firmly reiterated its stance on Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations, demanding that Pakistan vacate the illegally occupied territory and cease its state-sponsored cross-border terrorism.
Responding to Pakistan’s repeated attempts to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN Security Council, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, stated on Monday that such references neither validate Pakistan’s claims nor justify its support for terrorism.
"Pakistan continues to illegally occupy the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which it must vacate," Harish asserted. He cited Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on April 21, 1948, which calls for Pakistan to withdraw its forces and infiltrators from Kashmir. He reaffirmed that "Jammu and Kashmir was, is, and will always be an integral part of India."
Harish advised Pakistan against diverting global attention with its "parochial and divisive agenda" and dismissed its claims as baseless. India's strong response came after Syed Tariq Fatemi, Pakistan’s junior foreign affairs minister, once again raised the Kashmir issue, calling for a plebiscite in the region.
India countered by pointing out that the plebiscite proposed under the 1948 UN resolution was rendered impossible due to Pakistan’s refusal to fulfill its prerequisite, complete withdrawal from the region. India maintains that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have repeatedly expressed their allegiance to India through democratic elections.
Further rejecting Pakistan’s references to the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), India reiterated that the mission has lost its relevance due to the 1972 Shimla Agreement, which defines Kashmir as a bilateral issue, eliminating any role for third parties. India has already removed UNMOGIP from its government-provided offices in New Delhi.
India has consistently stressed its desire for normal neighborly relations with Pakistan, but only in an environment free of terror and hostility. Last week, at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Indian envoy Kshitij Tyagi dismissed Pakistan’s accusations of human rights violations in Kashmir, calling them falsehoods spread by its "military-terrorist complex."
Echoing this sentiment, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar recently asserted that the full resolution of the Kashmir issue lies in Pakistan vacating the region it illegally occupies. Speaking at Chatham House in London on March 5, he highlighted India's progress in restoring normalcy in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370 and stressed that the final step would be the return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
With IANS inputs