India has denounced Pakistan's attempt to bring up the Kashmir issue during a discussion about the Security Council's functions, calling it an improper use of the General Assembly platform. Pratik Mathur, a minister at India's UN mission, criticized Pakistan's mention of Kashmir, stating that it "misused this forum to spread baseless and deceitful narratives, which is not a surprise."
"I will not dignify these remarks with any response just to save valuable time of this august body," he added dismissively. Mathur, referring to Pakistan as "one delegation," was responding to Pakistan's Permanent Representative Munir Akram's suggestion to establish a Security Council body to monitor the implementation of its resolutions on Kashmir. Despite not naming Pakistan, the target of his dismissive remarks was clear. Regardless of the discussion topic or its relevance, Pakistan consistently raises the Kashmir issue.
While India does confront Pakistan directly by name on major issues through its formal right of reply, New Delhi avoids naming it on other occasions, like on Tuesday, to prevent Islamabad from prolonging the issue, which is largely ignored by the other 192 UN members, while still making a clear rebuttal. Since Pakistan was not named, it did not receive a right to reply to amplify its statement. Kashmir does not gain traction at the UN, and Akram repeatedly attempts to link it to Palestine – as he did on Tuesday – but without success.
For instance, during last year's high-level session of the General Assembly, only one country besides Pakistan mentioned Kashmir, meaning 191 nations ignored it. The lone mention was a passing remark by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said that resolving the dispute through dialogue by India and Pakistan "will pave the way for regional peace, stability, and prosperity in South Asia." Pakistan's former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has admitted Islamabad's failure to gain support for its cause.
"We face a particularly uphill task to try and get Kashmir onto the center of the agenda at the United Nations," he said at a news conference last year. India "strongly object vociferously object and they perpetuate a post facto narrative" to shut out Kashmir, he lamented. India maintains that Kashmir and all disputes between the neighbors are bilateral matters under the 1972 Simla Agreement signed by Bilawal's grandfather Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, then Pakistan's President, and India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Additionally, when emphasizing the implementation of the Security Council resolution on a plebiscite in Kashmir, Islamabad overlooks a key element requiring it to first withdraw from all areas of Kashmir it occupied. Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on April 21, 1948, requires the Pakistani government to secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the State for the purpose of fighting and to prevent any intrusion into the State of such elements and any furnishing of material aid to those fighting in the State.
The "tribesmen" mentioned in the resolution are Pakistani soldiers disguised as tribesmen. The resolution also requires Islamabad to stop funding or arming terrorists who continue attacks in Kashmir, an element Pakistan ignores.
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