Pakistan rejects India’s claims, reiterates position on IIOJ&K at UNSC

NEW YORK: Pakistan delivered a strong rebuttal to India’s statements during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, with Pakistan’s Counsellor, Saima Saleem, rejecting India’s position on regional security and the Kashmir dispute.

Addressing the Council, Saleem accused India of attempting to distort facts and alleged that it is involved in state-sponsored terrorism in the region.

Reaffirming Pakistan’s position on Jammu and Kashmir, she said the territory is neither an integral part of India nor solely its internal matter, adding that India continues to disregard United Nations resolutions on the dispute.

Saleem also drew a contrast between the situations in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), stating that while one enjoys political freedoms, the other faces repression, arbitrary detentions, and alleged human rights violations.

She further said that the Kashmiri people’s inalienable right to self-determination cannot be denied and cited the Kulbhushan Jadhav case as evidence supporting Pakistan’s allegations of India’s involvement in terrorism.

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Prior to this, Pakistan urged the United States to play a constructive role by pressing India to stop human rights abuses in Kashmir and release all political prisoners.

Speaking at the weekly press briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi recalled the martyrdom anniversaries of Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq in 1990 and Abdul Gani Lone in 2002, stating that both leaders were martyred by Indian occupation forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

He said Pakistan also remembered the 70 Kashmiris who were martyred while carrying the coffin of Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq during funeral processions.

He stressed that the lack of accountability for the gruesome killing of innocent Kashmiris and their leaders remains a festering injustice and a chilling example of the brazen impunity that defines the deplorable human rights situation in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.