India Strongly Objects To UN Chief’s Jammu And Kashmir Comments, Firmly Rejects Mediation Offer

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India has flatly rejected United Nation chief Antonio Guterres’s offer of mediation on Kashmir and said the real issue needed to be addressed is to vacate territories “illegally and forcibly” occupied by Pakistan.

The assertion by the ministry of external affairs came after Guterres said in Islamabad that he was concerned over the situation in Kashmir, and that he was ready to mediate between India and Pakistan to resolve the long pending issue.

MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Jammu and Kashmir is and will continue to be an integral part of India and hoped that the UN secretary general would press Pakistan to take credible and irreversible action to stop cross-border terrorism against India.

“India’s position has not changed. Jammu and Kashmir has been, is, and will continue to be an integral part of India. The issue that needs to be addressed is that of vacation of the territories illegally and forcibly occupied by Pakistan,” Kumar said.

“Further issues, if any, would be discussed bilaterally. There is no role or scope for third-party mediation,” he said.

Guterres is currently undertaking a four-day visit to Pakistan.

“We hope the UN secretary general would emphasise on the imperative for Pakistan to take credible, sustained and irreversible action to put an end to cross-border terrorism against India, which threatens the most fundamental human right — the right to life — of the people of India, including in J&K,” the MEA spokesperson said.

Addressing a press conference after his meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad, the UN secretary general said he was “deeply concerned” over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and tensions along the Line of Control.

Guterres said it was important for India and Pakistan to de-escalate “militarily and verbally” and exercise “maximum restraint” on the Kashmir issue.