India slams Pakistan for raking up Kashmir issue at UNSC

NEW YORK: India slammed Pakistan over raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at a Security Council debate on women, peace and security and said that it is unworthy to respond to such "malicious and false propaganda".

While addressing the United Nation Security Council, on Tuesday, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said, "Let me dismiss the frivolous, baseless and politically motivated remarks made by the delegate of Pakistan regarding the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. My delegation considers it unworthy to even respond to such malicious and false propaganda. Rather, our focus is where it shall always be positive and forward-looking."

"Today's discussion is critically important to strengthen our collective efforts to accelerate the full implementation of the women's peace and security agenda. We respect the topic of the debate and we recognize the importance of time. As such, our focus shall remain on the topic," she added.

This statement came after Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari referred to Jammu and Kashmir in his remarks to the Council debate.

In her speech at UNSC, Kamboj said that the violence perpetrated by terrorists against women and girls remains rampant and should be strongly condemned while calling for adopting a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of terrorism.

"women and girls suffer invariably and disproportionately. Violence against women and girls perpetrated by terrorists remains rampant. This deserves the strongest condemnation and calls for the adoption of a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of terrorism," she said.

Appreciating that UNSC resolution 1325, India's envoy to the UN said that this was pathbreaking as it ushered in a gendered perspective to the maintenance of international peace and security.

It is for the first time recognized that women are disproportionately affected by violence and that their participation in the peace processes is indispensable for forging lasting peace and security. She stated that in the past years, India has seen a strengthening of the normative framework of the women's peace and security agenda. However, in spite of that, women are still routinely underrepresented, in and excluded from formal peace processes, political dialogues and peacebuilding.

Talking about Afghanistan and its continuous crackdown on women, Kamboj said, "As this council is aware, we have been emphasizing the importance of inclusive and representative governance in Afghanistan with the meaningful participation of women in accordance with UNSC resolution 2593 of 2021."

"While supporting political participation, we must also equally focus in a holistic manner on the socioeconomic empowerment of women, including their access to credit, finance and technology," she added.

She further stated that India, in January 2023, had deployed a platoon, a platoon of women peacekeepers in Abyay as part of the Indian battalion in the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyay.

This was India's single largest deployment of women peacekeepers since 2007 when the country had been the first country to deploy all women-formed police units in Liberia.

These initiatives are reflective of India's intent to increase significantly the number of women in peacekeeping contingents and our commitment to the WPS agenda.

She said that India also supports increasing the deployment of women protection advisors for effective monitoring, analysis and reporting arrangements on sexual violence in conflict four. Terrorism and violent extremism continue to be the biggest violators of human rights and a persistent threat to global peace and security, she added.