External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar lashed out at Pakistan on Wednesday at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) after Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto unceremoniously brought up the Kashmir issue during a meeting to discuss multilateralism.
In his speech, Bhutto said that "parties to a dispute can not advocate multilateral process one day, multilateral reforms one day and insist on bilateral avenues the next and ultimately impose unilateral actions," referencing Jammu and Kashmir without naming them.
To this, Jaishankar said a country which hosted al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and attacked a neighbouring Parliament does not have the credentials to sermonize."
"While we search for the best solutions, what our discourse must never accept is the normalisation of such threats. The question of justifying what the world regards as unacceptable should not even arise. That certainly applies to state sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. Nor can hosting Osama bin Laden and attacking a neighbouring Parliament serve as credentials to sermonize before this Council," he said.
Jaishankar was in the UN to preside over signature events on counter-terrorism and reformed multilateralism being held under India's current Presidency of the UN Security Council before the curtains come down this month on the country's two-year tenure as an elected member of the powerful 15-nation.
Jaishankar presided over the UN Security Council Open Debate on Maintenance of International Peace and Security: New Orientation for Reformed Multilateralism', a signature event held under India's Presidency of the 15-nation Council.
Bhutto was one of the 60 speakers to speak at the debate. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj was chairing the debate when Bhutto spoke in the Council.
After Bhutto raised Kashmir, though he didn't name it, Jaishankar replied, referencing the incident wherein Osama Bin Laden was found living in Pakistan's Abbottabad before he was killed in a raid at his hideout in May 2011 by US Navy seals.
Bhutto also used the opportunity to hint at India's bid for permanent membership to the UNSC, stating "adding new permanent members to UNSC will numerically reduce the opportunities for the vast majority of the UN member states to be present on the Security Council."
This isn't the first time that Pakistan brought up the Kashmir issue on an international stage. The relations between the two countries soured after India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019.
(With inputs from PTI)
