New Delhi (India) June 24: Defending Jammu and Kashmir, India has harshly rebuked Pakistan at the UN Security Council on the issue. In an informal meeting of the UNSC, Pakistan raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Indian envoy Parvathaneni Harish said the remarks of Pakistan on J&K were “unwarranted” and said it was India’s internal affair. India also demanded a review of UNSC mandates. 

New Delhi’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, was speaking at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on ‘Bridging the Implementation Gap: UNSC Resolutions and Maintenance of International Peace and Security’.

India Calls Pakistan’s Remarks Unwarranted

India retorted sharply at the United Nations Security Council after Pakistan raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at an informal meeting, calling its neighbour’s remarks “unwarranted” and emphasizing that the former state remains an internal matter of India.

“I also refer to the unwarranted remarks made by the representative of Pakistan. It is incredible that a co-chair expected to be balanced and unbiased in conduct has chosen to politicise this forum,” Harish said.

“I would only like to stress, for brevity of time, that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is a matter strictly internal to India. It has always been, is, and will remain so,” he added.

India Seeks Review of UNSC Mandates

He also called for a review of UNSC mandates as part of the UN80 initiative that aims to study the working of the global organisation in its 80th year. Mr Harish proposed reviewing provisions of chapter VI of the UN Charter, which deals with mechanisms to settle international disputes peacefully.

“India would like to emphasise that at a time when member states are undertaking mandate implementation review under the UN80 framework for all UN General Assembly mandates in order to achieve efficiencies, there is no reason why UN Security Council mandates should be outside the purview of such UN80 frameworks”, he said.

Pakistan and China Host Informal Meeting

Mr Harish's assertion came after Pakistan Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, raised the J&K issue in his intervention during the meeting convened by Pakistan and China's permanent missions to the UN.

Arria-formula meetings are informal and confidential consultations at the Security Council and serve to bring together Security Council members to facilitate the exchange of views in a flexible, less structured format, which are named after former Venezuelan Ambassador Diego Arria, who introduced the practice in 1992.

India Reiterates No Mediation on Kashmir Issue

Bilateral ties have been consistently marred by the Kashmir issue with India ruling out any external interference or mediation on it, reiterating that the entirety of the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is and shall always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.