India rebukes Pakistan at UN over Kashmir remarks
India has sharply rejected Pakistan's remarks on Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations, accusing Islamabad of using the forum to promote what it called biased and false narratives. The exchange took place during a UN General Assembly plenary session on the annual report of the Security Council in New York. India said Pakistan's reference to Jammu and Kashmir was unwarranted and that the territory remains an integral part of India.
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India's permanent representative to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish, delivered the response in the chamber and said Pakistan should not use the UN as a platform for what he described as divisive political interests. He said Pakistan's conduct on the Security Council showed a counter-productive approach and argued that membership of the council carries a responsibility. Harish also said Pakistan had circulated several misinformed and misleading communications.
In his remarks, Harish reiterated India's longstanding position that Jammu and Kashmir "was, is and will always remain" an integral and inalienable part of India. He said any contrary assertions were baseless, devoid of merit and inconsistent with historical facts. The statement came after Pakistan raised the issue during the same UN session, prompting India to respond publicly in the chamber.
The dispute matters because Kashmir remains one of the most sensitive issues in India-Pakistan relations and is regularly raised in international settings. India has long opposed any attempt to internationalise the matter, while Pakistan has continued to bring it up in multilateral forums. The latest exchange shows that the issue remains active in diplomatic exchanges even when the immediate agenda at the UN concerns other matters.
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The row also came as Harish was present at the UN headquarters for a separate ceremony marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers. At that event, he received the Dag Hammarskjold Medal on behalf of the families of fallen Indian peacekeepers from UN Secretary-General António Guterres. That detail underlines the broader UN setting in which the Kashmir exchange unfolded, with India represented both in a commemorative role and in a political rebuttal.
India's response reflects a familiar pattern in the long-running dispute, with both countries using international platforms to restate their positions. The immediate trigger was Pakistan's reference to Jammu and Kashmir during the General Assembly plenary, but the wider context is the continuing contest over how the issue should be framed. What remains unclear is whether Pakistan will respond publicly to India's latest statement or whether the exchange will remain confined to the UN record.
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