India strongly countered Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), accusing its neighbour of repeatedly misusing international forums to push divisive political narratives and raising matters that New Delhi considers strictly internal. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish, delivered the response during the General Assembly’s plenary meeting on the Annual Report of the UN Security Council.
Responding to remarks made by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Harish said references to Jammu and Kashmir were unwarranted and compelled India to set the record straight. He criticised Pakistan for using UN platforms to spread what he described as biased and misleading narratives, despite its responsibilities as a member of the Security Council.
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Reiterating India’s long-standing position, Harish declared that Jammu and Kashmir “was, is and will always remain” an integral and inalienable part of India. He said claims challenging this reality were baseless and inconsistent with historical facts. According to the Indian envoy, repeated rhetoric from Pakistan would not alter the status of the Union Territory.
Beyond the Kashmir issue, India also called for reforms within the UN Security Council. Harish argued that retaining the existing structure had not enabled effective functioning of the Council and urged expansion in both permanent and non-permanent membership categories to better reflect current geopolitical realities.
Separately, the Ministry of External Affairs lodged a strong protest against Pakistan’s plans to hold elections for the so-called Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly on June 7. India reiterated that the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh, legally acceded to India in 1947 and remains an integral part of the country. The government rejected any attempt by Pakistan to alter the status of territories under its control, stating that such actions cannot legitimise what India considers Pakistan’s illegal occupation of its territory.
