United Nations: India will soar high if Pakistan ‘stoops low’ by raising the Kashmir issue at a high-level UN General Assembly session here next week, according to India’s top envoy to the United Nations Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin. He said that Islamabad may want to mainstream hate speech after normalising terrorism in the past.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session September 27 in New York. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to speak on the same day.
Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said Imran Khan will ‘forcefully’ raise the issue before the international community during his address to the UNGA.
At a press conference here Thursday, India’s permanent representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin was asked whether he expected the Kashmir issue to come up during the UNGA session, and, if so, how will India tackle it.
“What you’re telling me is that it will be more of the same, much more of the same from the side of one country. If that is so what is our response? So let me put it this way. That it is for every country to determine its trajectory of how it wants to approach global platforms. There may be some who stoop low. Our response to them is we soar high. They (Pakistan) may stoop low, we soar high,” Akbaruddin asserted.
“We are confident that we will soar. We have given you examples of how we will not stoop. We will soar when they stoop low,” added the Indian envoy.
Akbaruddin also laid out the focus and priorities of Prime Minister Modi when he arrives for the 74th UN General Assembly session. He stated that a plethora of plurilateral and bilateral engagements and meetings of the Prime Minister outline the examples of how India will soar higher.
“What they want to do is their call. We’ve seen them mainstream terrorism in the past. And what you’re now telling me is they may want to mainstream hate speech. It’s their call, if they want to do that. Poison pens don’t work for too long,” pointed out Akbaruddin.
Tension between India and Pakistan escalated after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, August 5.
Pakistan has been trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue but India has asserted that the abrogation of Article 370 is its ‘internal matter’. New Delhi has also asked Islamabad to accept the reality and stop its anti-India rhetoric.
PTI