Right of Reply Exercised by Mr. Qasim Aziz, First Secretary, Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, NewYork
Madam President,
My delegation is exercising its right of reply in response to the statement just made by India.
2. Let us examine the points he made, beginning with the reference to Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir is not an integral part of India. It is a disputed territory as is evidenced by all UN Maps and official documents. Security Council resolution 47 (1948), notes the desire of India and Pakistan that "the question of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan should be decided through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite". This call for a plebiscite was reiterated in Security Council resolutions 91 (1951) and 122 (1957), among others, and resolutions of the United Nations Commission on India and Pakistan, specifically its resolutions of 13 August 1948 and 5 January 1949. India accepted this decision and is bound to comply with it in accordance with Article 25 of the UN Charter. So much for Jammu & Kashmir being an integral part of India, says a press release received here today from New York.
3. Living in this alternative reality, Indian attempts to deny its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir is a travesty of history. Only an occupier would oppose the implementation of Security Council resolutions that promised self-determination to the people of the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir.
4. If India has any respect for international law and moral courage, it would end its reign of terror, withdraw its troops and let the Kashmiris freely decide their future in accordance with Security Council resolutions.
Madam President,
5. One can grant that India knows a lot about terrorism. It has the dubious distinction of being one of the world’s pioneers and largest purveyors of state terrorism. It has instigated, sponsored and abetted state terrorism in each of its neighboring countries, including against my country.
6. At home, the Hindutva Raj is unleashing the worst form of state-directed terrorism against its minorities. Under the current RSS-BJP government, India is being guided by a supremacist ideology that has mainstreamed Islamophobia in the political discourse.
7. One cannot expect anything new from the purveyors of Hindutva. In today’s incredibly intolerant and fading India, 200 million Muslim minority faces frequent lynching by ‘cow vigilantes’; pogroms by RSS thugs, with official complicity; discriminatory citizenship laws to expel Muslims; and a concerted campaign to destroy mosques and the rich Muslim heritage of India.
8. With such horrendous track record on democracy, rule of law and human rights, India surely does not deserve a place at this very Council, and in the wider law-abiding world community.
I thank you
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