New Delhi:

India has reiterated that matters pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are “purely internal” and Pakistan cannot comment on its domestic matters. The strong remarks came a day after Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar raised the Kashmir bogey at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“Pakistan has become a habitual offender when it comes to misusing this August forum to peddle baseless and malicious propaganda against India,” Petal Gahlot, First Secretary for second committee of General Assembly, said on Saturday.

Pakistan does so to deflect the international community’s attention away from its own abysmal record on human rights, she said.

“J&K Purely Integral To India”

Pakistan’s Mr Kakar yesterday said Kashmir is the “key to peace” between the two neighbours.

“We reiterate that the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir are an integral part of India. Matters pertaining to the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are purely internal to India. Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on our domestic matters,” she asserted in response.

India tore into Pakistan for having the “world’s worst human rights records”, especially those of the minority and women. “Pakistan would do well to put its own house in order before venturing to point a finger at the world’s largest democracy,” Ms Gahlot said.

She sought to remind Pakistan its “glaring example of systemic violence against minorities” – the incident in August in which several churches and Christian houses were burnt down in Faisalabad district.

An estimated 1,000 women from minority communities are kidnapped, forcefully converted and married off in Pakistan every year, Ms Gahlot said cited a report by Pakistan’s own Human Rights Commission.

“Take Action Against Mumbai Attack Perpetrators”

India also slammed Pakistan for providing a safe haven to terrorists and called on its government to take action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack.

“Pakistan has been the home and patron to the largest number of internationally prescribed terrorist entities and individuals in the world,” she said. “Instead of engaging in technical sophistry, we call upon Pakistan to take credible and verifiable action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks whose victims await justice even after 15 years.”

India also listed three steps that Pakistan must take to ensure peace in South Asia: “First, stop cross-border terrorism and shut down its infrastructure of terrorism immediately. Second, vacate Indian territories under its illegal and forcible occupation. And third, stop the grave and persistent human rights violations against the minorities in Pakistan,” said Ms Gahlot.

New York:

Pakistan caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar on Friday predictably raised the Kashmir bogey in his speech at the UN General Assembly. he claimed that the Jammu and Kashmir issue is among the longest-standing items on the UN agenda.

Mr Kakar’s remarks came during his address to the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York today. 

He said, “Pakistan desires peaceful and productive relations with all our neighbours including India,” and added that “Kashmir is the key to peace between Pakistan and India.”

India has repeatedly raised its concern over Pakistan’s support of cross-border terrorism and has asserted that terror and talks cannot go together.

India has also provided evidence at various international forums of Pakistan’s support for Terrorist groups.

Pakistan’s caretaker PM however harped on what he called the illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

“India has evaded implementation of the security council’s resolutions which call for the final disposition of Jammu and Kashmir to be decided by its people through UN-supervised plebiscite. Since August 2019, India has deployed 900,000 troops in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir to impose the final solution for Kashmir,” Mr Kakar claimed.

Following the Indian government’s decision in August 2019 to abolish Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcating it into two Union territories- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistan government, then led by Imran Khan, expelled India’s ambassador to Islamabad and halted bilateral trade.

India has already made it clear after the Pulwama attack in 2019 that it wants normal bilateral ties with Pakistan, adding that it is incumbent upon them to create a conducive environment free from terrorism and hostilities.

Earlier in August, former Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif had shown his willingness to talk to India.

“With our neighbours, we are prepared to talk to them, provided that the neighbour is serious to talk on serious matters on the table because war is no more an option. Pakistan is a nuclear power, not as an aggressor but for our defence purposes. We had three wars fought in the last 75 years. And what happened is it generates more poverty, unemployment, and lack of resources” PM Sharif had stated.

Following this, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India wanted neighbourly ties with Pakistan but there should be an atmosphere free from terror and violence for such a relationship.

During a weekly briefing, the MEA spokesperson had said “We have seen reports regarding the comments by the Pakistan PM on this issue. India’s clear and consistent position is well known that we desire normal relations with all our neighbouring countries including Pakistan. For this environment free of terror and hostility is imperative.”

India will now have the right to reply to Pakistan’s speech at the UNGA on Saturday morning and a sharp rejoinder is expected.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Anwaar ul Haq Kakar. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar called the matter of inflated electricity bills, which have led to the countrywide protests, a “non-issue”, Dawn News reported on September 2.

Mr. Kakar also said it was raised by some political parties and was a “tool in their election campaigns.“ It is not a very serious issue, but political parties are in election mode and using it as a social cause,” the interim Prime Minister told senior journalists and news anchors on August 2.

“I realise their position. If I were to contest the election, I would have followed the same as well,” he added. As per the Dawn News, the caretaker PM also claimed that the security forces are not using a single unit of free electricity and are paying their bills with the allocated financial budget.

He added that the Wapda employees were using free electricity units and their usage would be rationalised, especially for higher-grade officers, some of whom are getting huge amounts of free electricity. More people are joining the nationwide protest every day against excessive electricity prices. Locals have been taking to the streets and even burning currency notes in protest, ARY News reported.

Protests against the exorbitant electricity prices have spread across the entire nation — from Karachi to Khyber — and some protests are now turning violent. People in Karachi demonstrated against the excessive bills that K-Electric, the city’s only electricity provider, gave out.

People expressed their displeasure that their bills exceeded their salaries, according to ARY News, a news channel that operates in Pakistan. A large number of people demonstrated in Peshawar, with locals declaring that they will not remain silent in the face of this “injustice.”

Additionally, traders from Lahore Square and Ganj Bazaar set fire to power bills to vent their fury. At Committee Chowk in Rawalpindi, protesters gathered and burned electricity bills, raising slogans against the government. Protesters in Gujranwala besieged the Gujranwala Electric Power Company office in an effort to draw attention to the inflated tariff issue. Other cities such as Narowal, Attock, Sargodha, and Haripur, too, saw demonstrations against rising electricity costs.