India on Monday criticised Pakistan at the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly for making “irrelevant and irresponsible” statements and said the country had become “Pavlovian” with its predictable reactions to discussions about New Delhi at the global platform.
This came after Pakistan alleged that India does not qualify to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council because of its alleged human rights violation along the Line of Control and in Jammu and Kashmir. Without taking names, Islamabad’s Permanent Representative Ambassador Munir Akram accused India of “fomenting terrorism and instability”, especially in Pakistan.
“We have clear and ample evidence of this state-sponsored terrorism,” the Pakistani envoy told the 193-member General Assembly, according to The Dawn. “The country stands in violation of UNSC resolutions in occupied Kashmir. It threatens aggression against Pakistan and resorts to daily artillery and small arms fire targeting innocent civilians on our side of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. This country has no qualification for a UNSC membership — permanent or even non-permanent.”
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti rejected the accusations and said the global body was a “forum for serious debate, not frivolous allegations”.
“I do not wish to waste the time of this Assembly by responding to the irrelevant and irresponsible remarks made by the representative of Pakistan, which has become ‘Pavlovian’ whenever India is mentioned,” he said.
Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up again last week, after eleven people, including six civilians, four Indian Army soldiers and a Border Security Force sub inspector, were killed on Friday amid cross-border shelling along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Army accused Islamabad for “initiating unprovoked ceasefire violation” in the region.
Pakistan, in turn, accused India of sponsoring “terrorism” aimed at destabilising the country and claimed it had proof to back its claims. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan is sending its evidence to the United Nations demanding India be censured, warning that “without international intervention it is difficult to guarantee peace in nuclear South Asia.”
India dismissed the allegations as “fabricated” and “figments of imagination”.
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‘UN Security Council is an impaired organ, unable to act with credibility,’ says India
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