India has refused to respond to Pakistan’s reference to Kashmir during a Security Council meeting on the Israel-Gaza situation and said it will treat it with the contempt it deserves.
Voicing deep concern for the deteriorating security situation and loss of civilian lives, India urged parties to work towards creating conditions necessary for peace and restarting direct negotiations through de-escalation and ending violence. The remarks were made by India’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, Ambassador R Ravindra, on Tuesday as the UNSC met to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
“India is deeply concerned at the deteriorating security situation and large-scale loss of civilian lives in the ongoing conflict. The mounting humanitarian crisis is equally alarming,” Ravindra said.
He said the escalation of hostilities in Israel and Gaza has only exacerbated the dire humanitarian situation and has once again underscored the fragile nature of the ceasefire. “All parties must protect civilians, especially women and children. The unfolding humanitarian crisis needs to be addressed,” Ravindra said.
At the end of his speech, Ravindra noted, “Before I end, there was a remark of habitual nature by one delegation referring to Union Territories that are integral and inalienable parts of my country.”
“I would treat these remarks with the contempt they deserve and not dignify them with a response in the interest of time,” he added.
The statement came after Pakistan’s UN envoy Munir Akram made a reference to Kashmir as he spoke on the international body’s failure in such humanitarian crises.
“The United Nations Security Council’s failures in Gaza and Kashmir are primarily due to the veto power of permanent members. Bringing in more permanent members is not a solution. Pakistan is ready to explore the regional approach to reforming the UNSC,” Akram had said at UNSC.
India has been critical of Pakistan’s remarks on Kashmir at UN meetings and has repeatedly voiced it as an “internal matter” that the neighbouring country should not interfere into.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Security Council meeting that all acts of terrorism are unlawful and unjustifiable, whether they are carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based terror outfit, targeting people in Mumbai, or by Hamas.
"They are unlawful and unjustifiable whether they're carried out by ISIS, by Boko Haram, by Al Shabaab, by Lashkar-e-Taiba or by Hamas,” he had asserted.
“We must affirm the right of any nation to defend itself and to prevent such horror from repeating itself. No member of this Council, no nation in this entire body could or would tolerate the slaughter of its people,” Blinken had said.
He stressed that the Security Council has a responsibility to denounce member states that arm, fund and train Hamas or “any other terrorist group that carries out such horrific acts.”
