Kashmir is Ours, Indus Water on Hold Until Pakistan Ends Terror : India at UNSC

 

Suhail Khan 

 

New Delhi, Dec 16: In a stern diplomatic response, India delivered a sharp rebuke to Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council, dismissing its “unwarranted” raising of the Jammu and Kashmir issue and condemning its continued sponsorship of cross-border terrorism.

 

Addressing the UNSC Open Debate on ‘Leadership for Peace,’ India’s Permanent Representative, Ambassador Harish P as per Kashmir Convener stated that Pakistan’s “obsessive focus” on maligning India was incompatible with its responsibilities as a serving non-permanent Council member.

 

“Pakistan’s unwarranted reference to Jammu & Kashmir in today’s debate attests to its obsessive focus on harming India and its people,” Ambassador Harish said. “A Security Council Member that pursues this divisive agenda on all UN platforms cannot be expected to fulfil its obligations.”

 

The Ambassador firmly reiterated that the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are an “integral and inalienable” part of India. He then pivoted to what he termed Pakistan’s principal export: terrorism.

 

“For over four decades, tens of thousands of Indian lives have been lost to terrorism sponsored from across our borders,” he stated. He cited the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, which involved the “religion-based targeted killings of 26 innocent civilians by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists,” as a recent and grievous example.

 

In a significant declaration, the Ambassador linked Pakistan’s state support for terrorism directly to the suspension of a key bilateral agreement. He stated the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty was signed in good faith but said Pakistan had violated its spirit by waging wars and sponsoring terrorism.

 

“It is in this backdrop that India has announced the Treaty will be held in abeyance until Pakistan, a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border and all other forms of terrorism,” he asserted.

 

The Indian envoy also targeted Pakistan’s internal political situation, suggesting it undermined its international credibility.

 

“Pakistan has a unique way of respecting the will of its people—by jailing a former Prime Minister, banning a ruling political party, and letting its armed forces engineer a constitutional coup through an amendment granting lifetime immunity to its Chief of Defence Forces,” Ambassador Harish said.

 

The Ambassador underscored India’s unwavering stance. “India will continue to counter Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in all its forms with full resolve,” he declared, leaving no ambiguity about New Delhi’s position.

 

Notably, Nearly eight months after the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander was among the seven accused named in an NIA chargesheet in connection with the case. In total, the chargesheet names five individual suspects and two terror outfits—the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and The Resistance Front (TRF)—for the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists, on April 22.