At a news briefing in New York earlier this week, UN Secretary General said that the UN still regarded J&K as a ‘disputed territory’ and this dispute needs to be resolved in accordance with UN resolutions passed since the beginning of the dispute more than 70 years ago.

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SRINAGAR — India Wednesday claimed that the entire Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh were, are, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India, irrespective of what Pakistan believes.

India’s representative at the United Nations also repeated New Delhi’s claim that “Azad Kashmir” too belonged to India and urged Pakistan to “immediately vacate all areas” under its control.

The Indian representative’s response came after Pakistan urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take cognizance of what he called compelling evidence of “India’s crimes in Jammu and Kashmir” and to hold accountable the Indian officials and personnel responsible for these “crimes”.

Speaking in a Security Council debate on “Protection of civilians in armed conflict”, Pakistan’s Ambassador Munir Akram accused India of “financing, sponsoring and supporting attacks” against Pakistan, including from the territory of Afghanistan. He cited a 2020 attack on the Karachi Stock Exchange, a recent attack in Lahore, and the killing of Chinese and Pakistani engineers at Dasu last year.

Earlier on Tuesday India criticized Pakistan at the UN for raising the Kashmir issue, saying most attacks around the world had their origin in that country and that the 26/11 perpetrators continued to enjoy state patronage, Times of India reported.

Pakistan had raised the Kashmir issue during a UNSC open debate on the protection of civilians during armed conflicts and mentioned India’s decision of unilaterally abrogating the erstwhile state’s special constitutional status in 2019.

In the meanwhile, Pakistan rejected India’s claims and told the Security Council that “terrorism” in South Asia originated from India.

“They have sponsored terrorism in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and all other neighbors and history will attest to that,” Akram said.

At a news briefing in New York earlier this week, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres clarified that the United Nations still regarded Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory and this dispute needs to be resolved in accordance with UN resolutions passed since the beginning of the discord more than 70 years ago.

“We have, as you know, a peacekeeping operation there. We are of course committed,” the UN chief said, recalling that he has offered his “good offices” several times to resolve this dispute.

“And we hope that this is something that can be solved peacefully and that the situation in Kashmir is a situation in which human rights are respected and in which people can live in peace and security,” Guterres said.

The Pakistani envoy also underlined the UN position on Jammu and Kashmir, noting that the Security Council still recognized this as an issue that needs to be decided by its people through a free and fair plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.