At UN, India tells Pakistan to concentrate on its own problems

United Nations, Aug 4 (IANS) It is best to concentrate on its own problems instead of flinging allegations against others, India told Pakistan when it resorted to terrorism while being designated as one of the “Hunger Hotspots” by UN agencies.

Responding to Pakistan bringing up the Kashmir issue while the Security Council was discussing food security on Thursday, R. Madhu Sudan, a counsellor in India’s UN Mission, said: “To best utilise this Council's time, I suggest the concerned delegation concentrate on addressing their internal matters and restoring order within their own borders, rather than indulging in frivolous allegations against my country.

“Unfortunately we saw one delegation misuse this forum yet again, to divert the attention of this Council from the important topic of food security."

More relevant to the subject of the Council debate, but ignored by Pakistan's Deputy Permanent Representative Aamir Khan, was a report by Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme in May on “Hunger Hotspots” that issued “early warnings on food insecurity” and linked the situation in Pakistan to its political crisis.

It warned that Pakistan’s “acute food insecurity is likely to further deteriorate over the coming months, if the economic and political crisis further worsens, compounding the effects of the 2022 flooding”.

While exporting terror abroad, Pakistan has also been unable to deal with internal terrorism and political violence, in the most recent instance of which a suicide bomber killed 54 people at a political rally of a member of the ruling coalition last month.

Sudan said that this “delegation has consistently shown a tendency to exploit various event platforms to further their own agenda”.

“It's unnecessary to engage in arguments or debates, particularly with those who resort to terrorism to advance their unlawful goals. I would like to emphasise that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India is non-negotiable,” he said.

He did not mention Pakistan by name while exercising India’s right of reply to comments by Khan.

Pakistan brings up Kashmir when speaking on any topic regardless of the relevance even though it ends up as a cry in the wilderness as hardly anyone pays heed.

Khan acknowledged it saying that it has been “virtually abandoned by an indifferent international community”.

He tried the old ploy of linking Kashmir to the Palestine issue, asserting that they “suffered foreign occupation for seven decades”.

He said that the Council must ensure that a plebiscite is held in Kashmir and food insecurity is not utilised there.

However, the 1948 Council resolution on the plebiscite in Kashmir demanded that first Pakistani withdraw its troops and people it sent in as "tribesmen".

India could not hold a plebiscite because Pakistan refused to follow the Council directive on withdrawing its personnel and since then New Delhi maintains that by participating in the elections in the state the Kashmiri people have exercised their democratic rights integrating with India.

After Sudan spoke, a second secretary in Pakistan’s UN Mission, Rabia Ijaz, repeated Islamabad’s claims about the Council resolution on a plebiscite but without mentioning its demand for Pakistan to first withdraw from Kashmir.