United Nations: India has slammed Pakistan for bringing up the Jammu and Kashmir issue again during a United Nations debate on peacekeeping reforms, and asked the neighboring country to vacate parts of the region it has "occupied illegally".
Addressing the UN Security Council, India's Permanent Representative, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, dismissed Pakistan's repeated reference to Jammu and Kashmir as 'unwarranted' and firmly reiterated that the region "was, is, and will always remain an integral part of India".
"India is compelled to note that the delegate of Pakistan has yet again resorted to unwarranted remarks on the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Such repeated references neither validate their illegal claims nor justify their state-sponsored cross-border terrorism," Harish said.
He reaffirmed the country's long-standing position on the matter, asserting that "Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will always be an integral part of India". He also highlighted that Pakistan continues to occupy parts of Jammu and Kashmir illegally and reiterated that it "must vacate" the territory.
Harish fired back after the Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister, Syed Tariq Fatemi, raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir during a Security Council debate on the future of UN peacekeeping.
"Pakistan continues to illegally occupy the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which it must vacate. We would advise Pakistan not to try to divert the attention of this forum to drive their parochial and divisive agenda. India will refrain from exercising a more elaborate Right of Reply," India's UN envoy said.
