Mr. President, I am obliged to take the floor to respond to the comments made by the delegate of India. Jammu and Kashmir is not an integral or inalienable part of India, nor has it ever been. India keeps repeating this factually incorrect position in its statements at the United Nations. Fact of the matter is that when the complaint relating to Kashmir was initiated by India in the Security Council; the Council explicitly and by implications, rejected India's claim that Kashmir is legally Indian territory; The UN Security Council in several resolutions, has recognized Jammu & Kashmir as a disputed territory and explicitly provided that ‘the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations”. These UN resolutions were accepted by both India and Pakistan and are binding on both. they remain to be implemented.?India’s assertions on the status of Jammu & Kashmir are a thus direct affront to the UN Charter and authority of the UN Security Council. It is also a negation of the principle of the right to self -determination, the right enshrined in very first article of the Charter. Let me also recall, Mr. President, that Article 25 of the UN Charter States and I quote ‘The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter’. India as a candidate for SC membership is in utter violation of this provision of the Charter. By its refusal to implement the Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir, India rides a rough shod over the charter as well as over the legitimacy and credibility of the Security Council. Hence the mentioning of Jammu and Kashmir and India’s continued intransigence to not implement SC resolutions is very much relevant to the today’s debate. Recalling a ground reality is not an abuse but an honest expression of facts. Throughout the day, we have heard voices, including that of my delegation, calling for a more effective and transparent Security Council. We wonder how India, who is seeking permanent membership, will add to the effectiveness and transparency of the Council when India has blatantly proven over the last 74 years that it could not care less about the Council’s resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir. I thank you!
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