India on Monday mounted a sharp and detailed rebuttal to Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate on “Leadership for Peace”, firmly rejecting Islamabad’s references to Jammu and Kashmir as “unwarranted” and reaffirming that the region, along with Ladakh, is an integral part of India.
Responding to Pakistan’s remarks during the debate, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, accused Islamabad of misusing the UN platform to further what he described as an “obsessive focus on harming India and its people,” while reiterating New Delhi’s long-standing position on Jammu and Kashmir.
“I refer to the statement made by the representative of Pakistan today. India would like to reiterate that the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India. They were, are, and will always remain so. Pakistan’s unwarranted reference to Jammu & Kashmir in today’s open debate attests to its obsessive focus on harming India and its people,” the Ambassador said.
Parvathaneni went on to describe Pakistan as the “global epicentre of terror” and said its conduct undermines its responsibilities as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
“A serving non-permanent Security Council Member that chooses to further this obsession in all meetings and platforms of the UN in pursuit of its divisive agenda cannot be expected to fulfil its designated responsibilities and obligations,” he added.
The Indian envoy also strongly defended India’s decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, citing Pakistan’s long history of sponsoring terrorism against India. He said India had entered the treaty 65 years ago in good faith, but Pakistan had repeatedly violated its spirit through wars and terror attacks.
“India had entered into the Indus Waters Treaty 65 years ago, in good faith, in a spirit of goodwill and friendship. Throughout these six and a half decades, Pakistan has violated the spirit of the Treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India,” Parvathaneni said.
Referring to the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 civilians were killed in a religion-based targeted assault, he said the incident underscored Pakistan’s continued support for terrorism.
“In the last four decades, tens of thousands of Indian lives have been lost in Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks, the most recent of which was the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025, which involved religion-based targeted killings of 26 innocent civilians by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists,” he said.
“It is in this backdrop that India has finally announced that the Treaty will be held in abeyance until Pakistan, which is a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border and all other forms of terrorism,” the Ambassador added.
Parvathaneni also criticised Pakistan’s domestic political situation, accusing it of suppressing democratic processes. He referred to the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the banning of the ruling political party, and what he described as a “constitutional coup” through the 27th amendment, granting lifetime immunity to Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir.
“Pakistan, of course, has a unique way of respecting the will of its people — by jailing a Prime Minister, by banning the ruling political party and by letting its armed forces engineer a constitutional coup through the 27th amendment and giving lifetime immunity to its Chief of Defence Forces,” he said.
Concluding his remarks, the Indian envoy issued a firm warning on terrorism.
“Let me be clear — India will counter Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in all its forms and manifestations with all its might,” Parvathaneni said.
India’s strong response came after Pakistan’s representative once again raised claims of an “unresolved dispute” in Jammu and Kashmir during the UNSC debate, while also criticising India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty.
