During the 2024 UN General Assembly, Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar once again spoke on the Kashmir issue, comparing the people of Jammu and Kashmir with Palestinians. Kakar reiterated Pakistan’s longstanding position of reversing India’s 2019 action to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. He said, “In a similar way, the people of Jammu and Kashmir, like the people of Palestine, have been fighting for a century for their freedom and their right to self-determination.” He urged India to reverse its “unilateral and illegal actions,” and enter into a dialogue for a peaceful resolution consistent with the UN Security Council resolutions.
India acted rapidly, with Bhavika Mangalanandan – first secretary of India’s UN mission – labelling Kakar’s speech a “travesty”. She alleged cross border terrorism from Pakistan, emphasised Pakistan’s military-run state and the country’s notoriety for terrorism and crime worldwide. Mangalanandan stated that “for a military-led country to speak of violence is hypocrisy if ever there was one.”
This diplomatic back and forth is only one piece of the larger, decades-long dispute over Kashmir, which both India and Pakistan fully claim but can only partially control. Pakistan has continued to raise Kashmir at the UNGA meeting; however, it has had very little impact on the international community’s positions. What is interesting this year, was that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, known for his consistent criticism of India’s Kashmir policy, did not bring up the problem this year, noted as a possible shift in diplomatically.
India’s Staunch Rebuttal
India’s response was unwavering, with the first secretary of India’s permanent mission to the UN, Bhavika Mangalanandan, denouncing Kakar’s remarks as “hypocrisy at its worst.” She asserted that Pakistan is an arbiter and supporter of cross-border terrorism, and thus Pakistan has no moral authority to speak about human rights violations.
“It is hypocrisy at its worst, a country run by its military talking about violence,” Mangalanandan said while emphasising Pakistan’s long history using terrorism as a policy as well.
The Kashmir dispute remains a profound and complicated issue, raising self-determination issues, territorial sovereignty issues, and human rights. While Pakistan seeks international support to resolve the conflict through the resolutions of the United Nations, India continues to maintain that the region’s political status is an internal matter. With little progress on the part of each side, this issue is surely to continue on as a major flashpoint between each nuclear-armed state.
The most recent exchange in the UNGA highlights India’s and Pakistan’s entrenched positions on Kashmir. Pakistan persist in proclaiming the necessity for the international community to get involved while India continues to proclaim that Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter. While tensions remain high, the Kashmir issue persists without a resolution, and there exists no expectation of movement in international forums.
