India has condemned Pakistan’s “baseless and false narratives” after Pakistan’s Special Envoy Munir Akram mentioned Kashmir in his speech at the UN General Assembly.
Making a statement during a debate on the annual report at the UN General Assembly, India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Pratik Mathur said a delegation had “misused” the forum and spread “false and baseless” narratives.
“Today, a delegation has misused this forum and spread baseless and false stories, which is not surprising. In order to save the valuable time of this noble body, I will not be making any reaction to these remarks,” Mathur said.
His remarks came after Pakistan’s UN ambassador during a debate in the UN General Assembly called for monitoring the implementation of resolutions including those on Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan regularly raises the Jammu and Kashmir issue at the UN platform and other international forums, irrespective of the conference agenda.
India has repeatedly rejected Pakistan’s attempts to raise the Kashmir issue in international forums, claiming that the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are “an integral part of India” and that Pakistan has no “standing” to have a say in India’s internal affairs.
During a debate in the UN General Assembly, Pratik Mathur on Tuesday stressed the need for comprehensive reforms of the Security Council with the expansion of both permanent and non-permanent members.
“I welcome the opportunity to participate in the discussions on the Security Council’s report. I thank the members of the Security Council and the Secretariat for preparing the Security Council’s annual report,” Mathur said.
“India also joins other countries in congratulating the new members elected to the Council for the term 2025-2026. We look forward to working with them in a constructive and positive manner,” he added.
Indian diplomats pointed out that the UN Charter gives great importance to the report, as evidenced by the existence of a separate provision making such reports mandatory rather than being merged with provisions on reports from other UN bodies.
“The annual report of the Security Council must provide information, highlight and analyse the measures decided or taken by the Council for the maintenance of international peace and security during the reporting period,” the Indian diplomat said.
“However, discussions on the annual report have become a ritual without any substance. The annual report has become a summary document containing details, summaries and outcome documents of meetings. Last year, only six monthly reports were compiled. This reflects the lack of interest of members in this ritual,” he further said.
Mathur also said the annual report is also intended to analyze UN peacekeeping operations, but in reality there is little information on how peacekeeping operations are carried out. He also said there needs to be a clear timeline for completing the report, circulating it to the wider General Assembly membership and holding discussions.
“The annual report is meant to be an analysis of UN peacekeeping operations, the main tool for maintaining international peace and security. But the reality is that there is very little information on how peacekeeping operations are run, the challenges they face, why specific mandates are set or changed, when and why they are strengthened, reduced or terminated. Most peacekeepers are deployed by non-Security Council member states, who risk their soldiers’ lives for international peace. Hence, we need better partnership between the Security Council and Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs),” Mathur said.
Mathur stressed that the Security Council must live up to its charter responsibility to act on behalf of all member states, adding that the only solution was a “comprehensive reform of the Security Council,” including an expansion of permanent and non-permanent categories.
“The time has come for the Council to fulfil its charter responsibility to act on behalf of all member states. This cannot be achieved without increasing membership of both permanent and non-permanent members,” Mathur said.
“We are convinced that comprehensive reform of the Security Council, including the expansion of permanent and non-permanent categories, is the only solution. Only then will the Security Council be able to effectively address today’s conflicts around the world and increasingly complex and interconnected global challenges,” he added.
He added that with performance evaluation now one of the UN’s focus areas, the Security Council also needed to prove its credibility and improve its performance.
