WEB DESK
Pakistan’s Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas raked up the issue of Kashmir and made references to the recent UN Human Rights report on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir
India has strongly rejected Pakistan’s references to Kashmir during the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial
Meeting in Venezuela, saying the global forum can never be a platform for a “self-serving narrative” that aims to undermine the territorial integrity of one nation by another state.
The NAM needs to be in the vanguard of those addressing the primary issues of our times that cry for global cooperation, rather than become a platform for venting bilateral grievances between members, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said on Sunday in his address to the NAM Ministerial Meeting in Caracas, Venezuela.
Akbaruddin emphasised that individual members need to ponder before “turning upon” fellow members by raising issues, in global fora, which are not on the agenda, are not part of the discussions of the outcome document in any manner, find no resonance in the wider membership and those that contravene NAM traditions.
“Regrettably, one delegation attempted this yesterday. That no other member is responsive to such a self-serving narrative is a telling rejoinder that NAM never was and never can be a platform for pursuits aimed at undermining the territorial integrity of a State by another State,” the Indian envoy said.
Akbaruddin did not name Pakistan but his comments were aimed at Islamabad raising the issue of Kashmir at the multi-lateral forum.
Pakistan’s Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas, in her statement at ministerial meeting, raked up the issue of Kashmir and made references to the recent UN Human Rights report on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
India has slammed the UN report as a continuation of the earlier “false and motivated” narrative and violative of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In his statement, Akbaruddin said that while terrorists continue to “operate with great impunity and greater inhumanity,” the international community’s actions to combat the scourge have fallen short.
“Terrorism not only kills our citizens, but also seeks to disrupt societies by undermining our ability to attain our development goals. Unfortunately, all our talk about combating the scourge of terrorism has not been matched by actions,” he said.
As terrorists have collapsed borders, Akbaruddin said the collective response at countering terrorism must transcend from ad hoc and crisis-orientated reaction towards building standing structures intended to be durable and insulated from rhetoric.
