Pakistan, India clash over Kashmir at UN

UNITED NATIONS - Delegates of India and Pakistan on Monday had a verbal duel over the decades-old Jammu and Kashmir dispute between the two South Asian countries in the UN General Assembly Third Committee that deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues.

Reacting to Indian delegate Rajeev Shukla’s claim that Kashmir was an integral part of India, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon said it was an internationally recognised disputed territory.

“Pakistan rejects the Indian statement that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Union of India. Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised disputed territory according to several UN Resolutions.  The Security Council’s demand for free and fair plebiscite under the UN auspices still remains to be implemented,” he argued.

Referring to the current violence in Indian Occupied Kashmir, he said the occupying forces brutally killed innocent protestors and the Kashmiri political leadership was put behind bars to silence their call for freedom. Such actions created tension and aggravated the situation on the ground.