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UNGA ADDRESS

India hits back after Pak PM raises J&K issue
AGENCIES
India reiterated that matters pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are “purely internal” and Pakistan cannot comment on its domestic matters.
The strong remarks came a day after Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar raised the Kashmir bogey at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, according to NDTV.
“Pakistan has become a habitual offender when it comes to misusing this August forum to peddle baseless and malicious propaganda against India,” Petal Gahlot, first secretary for second committee of general assembly, said yesterday. It does so to deflect the world’s attention away from its own “abysmal record” on human rights, she added.
Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Friday raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in his address to the UN General Assembly, saying that Kashmir is the key to peace between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Addressing the General Debate of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, Kakar said Pakistan desires peaceful and productive relations with all its neighbours, including India, reports Hindustan Times.
“Kashmir is the key to peace between Pakistan and India,” he said.
“Development depends on peace. Pakistan is situated in the least economically integrated region in the world. Pakistan believes that regions develop together therefore [the country] desires peaceful and productive relations with all neighbours, including India,” he said.
Kakar said that the UN Security Council must secure the implementation of its resolutions on Kashmir and said the UN Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) should be “reinforced”.
“Global powers should convince New Delhi to accept Pakistan’s offer of mutual restraint on strategic and conventional weapons,” he said.
On the other hand, India yesterday said that Pakistan must shut down its “infrastructure of terrorism” immediately. It listed three steps for its neighbour to ensure peace in South Asia.
“We reiterate that the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir are an integral part of India. Matters pertaining to the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are purely internal to India. Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on our domestic matters,” Gahlot asserted in response.
India tore into Pakistan for having the “world’s worst human rights records”, especially those of the minority and women. “Pakistan would do well to put its own house in order before venturing to point a finger at the world’s largest democracy,” Gahlot said.
She sought to remind Pakistan its “glaring example of systemic violence against minorities” - the incident in August in which several churches and Christian houses were burnt down in Faisalabad district.
An estimated 1,000 women from minority communities are kidnapped, forcefully converted and married off in Pakistan every year, Gahlot said cited a report by Pakistan’s own Human Rights Commission.
India also slammed Pakistan for providing a safe haven to terrorists and called on its government to take action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack.
“Pakistan has been the home and patron to the largest number of internationally prescribed terrorist entities and individuals in the world,” she said. “Instead of engaging in technical sophistry, we call upon Pakistan to take credible and verifiable action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks whose victims await justice even after 15 years.”
India also listed three steps that Pakistan must take to ensure peace in South Asia: “First, stop cross-border terrorism and shut down its infrastructure of terrorism immediately. Second, vacate Indian territories under its illegal and forcible occupation. And third, stop the grave and persistent human rights violations against the minorities in Pakistan,” said Gahlot.