India today hit back at Pakistan in the United Nations, rejecting its’ false narrative on Operation Sindoor. It asserted that Islamabad has no locus standi to comment on the internal matters of India, particularly on the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

 

In a strongly worded response at the United Nations Security Council, India has asserted that it is not normal to tolerate Pakistan’s continued use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, P Harish, was responding to remarks made by Pakistan’s Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad during the Security Council’s open debate on Reaffirming International Rule of Law: Pathways to Reinvigorating Peace, Justice, and Multilateralism. 

 

P Harish said Pakistan has a single-point agenda of harming India and its people. He rejected Pakistan’s assertion that its response to Operation Sindoor had established a new normal, stating that terrorism can never be normalised. He said it is not normal to tolerate Pakistan’s continued use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy and stressed that India will do whatever is necessary to protect the safety and security of its citizens. He cautioned that the Security Council cannot become a forum for legitimising terrorism.

 

P Harish said Pakistan’s envoy had advanced a false and self-serving account of Operation Sindoor, which India launched in May last year to target terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation of terror attack in Pahalgam. He recalled that the Security Council itself had issued a press statement condemning the Pahalgam attack in the strongest terms and underlining the need to hold the perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors accountable and bring them to justice. 

 

India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations underlined that Operation Sindoor was measured, non-escalatory and responsible, aimed solely at dismantling terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists. He said Pakistan continued to threaten further attacks until May 9, but on 10th May, the Pakistani military contacted Indian military authorities directly and sought a cessation. 

 

Hitting out strongly at Pakistan for raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, he said, Islamabad has no locus standi to comment on matters internal to India. He reiterated that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.

 

On the Indus Waters Treaty, P Harish said India had entered into the agreement 65 years ago in good faith and in a spirit of goodwill and friendship. Following the Pahalgam terror attack, he said India was compelled to announce that the treaty would be held in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border and all other forms of terrorism.

 

India also advised Pakistan to introspect on its own adherence to the rule of law. He referred to Pakistan’s 27th Constitutional Amendment, passed in November last year, which grants lifetime immunity from legal prosecution to its Chief of Defence Forces, Field Marshal Asim Munir.