Pak must desist from rhetoric: India at UN

In a strong retort, India slammed Pakistan for peddling “falsehood” after it referred to Jammu and Kashmir during a debate on peacekeeping operations in the UN.

“India chooses its right to reply in response to the comments made by Pakistan that has yet again made an attempt to divert this august body from its agenda,” Member of the Rajya Sabha and National Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sudhanshu Trivedi said.

His remarks came during a debate on peacekeeping operations at the Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth Committee) of the UN General Assembly here Friday.

Trivedi asserted that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir “was, is and will remain an integral part of India.

“The people of Jammu and Kashmir have recently exercised their democratic and electoral rights and elected a new government. Pakistan must desist from such rhetoric and falsehood because it will not alter the facts,” Trivedi said.

He added that out of respect for the august members of the UN forum, India will refrain from responding to any further attempts by Pakistan to “abuse” the UN procedures.

Trivedi delivered India's strong response after the Pakistani delegate spoke about the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), mandated to supervise the ceasefire along the Line of Control.

India maintains that UNMOGIP has outlived its utility and is irrelevant after the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the Line of Control.

Later in a post on X, Trivedi said that during discussions in the United Nations on peacekeeping operations, the representative from Pakistan, while speaking on the subject of UN peacekeeping, “tried to digress the subject and unnecessarily mentioned that Pakistan's involvement with UN peacekeepers started when UN has put up peacekeepers in 1948" in territory Jammu and Kashmir.

Trivedi added that "taking a sharp exception of this remark,” he exercised the Right of Reply and “firmly stated on the floor that the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will remain an integral part of India. It has also recently gone through a proper democratic election. So the august forum of United Nations cannot be used in mentioning these types of non-substantive and misleading terms.”