India and Pakistan have traded heated diplomatic barbs at the UN Security Council after Pakistan raised the Kashmir settlement issue, warning that lasting peace in South Asia is directly linked to the solution of the decades-old issue.
While addressing the UN General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonisation Committee, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said, “There will be no peace till a peaceful solution to the issue is reached.”
Pakistan accused India of violating the fundamental rights in Jammu and Kashmir and called for the early settlement of the region that remains a nuclear flashpoint between the two countries. Ambassador Iftikhar stated, “India must end its human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and immediately rescind all unilateral and unlawful measures taken since August 5, 2019.”
Meanwhile, India has also responded with a firm tone and language at the UN Security Council, as India's permanent representative at the UNSC, Harish Parvathaneni, said in indirect reference to Pakistan that its neighbour “bombs its own people” and conducts “systematic genocide”.
He said Pakistan conducted Operation Searchlight in 1971 and sanctioned a systematic campaign of genocidal mass rape of 400,000 women citizens by its own army. While the two sides recently clashed at the UN General Assembly, the diplomatic barbs with accusations have gone to the next level.
Both sides have accused each other of “injustice, curbing liberty, and violating fundamental rights in the territories which both sides claim. Besides the UN-specific agenda discussing relevant themes and pressing issues that need global attention, India-Pakistan clashes at both international forums have become a sort of routine issue for both countries.
The two sides fought a brief conflict in May earlier this year, which lasted for four days before Donald Trump, according to reports, intervened and stopped the escalation on May 10.
Meanwhile, the tensions are still brewing between the two sides over Sir Creek, a 96-kilometre-long patch located in Gujarat, India, touching Sindh province in Pakistan. The Indian army chief warned Pakistan that any misadventure in the flashpoint” region would be dealt with a response without measures.
Pakistan, in response, has threatened to launch missile strikes on Indian cities in case Indian armed forces make a move in the territory. It will be interesting to see how the regional developments are likely to shape up in the coming days, with tensions running high on both sides.
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