India on Thursday said that “Pakistan may stoop low but New Delhi will soar high” when asked about its strategy to counter Islamabad’s propaganda at the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) high-level meetings next week.
“It is their call if they want to do that. Poison pens don’t work for too long. We are confident that we will soar. We have given you examples of how we will not stoop. We will soar when they stoop low,” India’s Permanent Representative to UN Syed Akbaruddin said on being asked if Pakistan would raise the Kashmir issue at UNGA.
His remarks came a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday pledged to present the “Kashmir case” at the UN General Assembly “like no one ever did before”.
Khan said that “there was no use talking to India unless Jammu and Kashmir’s special status is restored”.
On being asked if there is any chance of a multilateral closed-door meeting on combating international terrorism on the sidelines of UNGA, Syed Akbaruddin said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a call for an international conference to counter-terrorism.
He further said that Modi will definitely pitch for fighting terror during his visit to the US.
“Terrorism will always be a theme in India’s external orientation because our people have suffered enough and we would like the international community to act in unison to address this issue,” he added.
India’s UN representative further stressed that the world has seen Pakistan mainstream terrorism in the past.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address Indian-Americans at the “Howdy, Modi!” event in Texas’ Houston on September 22. Following the Houston event, PM Modi will attend the United Nations General Assembly on September 27.
Meanwhile, India is pulling out all the stops to counter the Pakistani narrative on Jammu and Kashmir at the UNGA meeting on 27 September.
Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan are scheduled to speak at the UNGA. With Khan declaring his resolve to highlight Kashmir in his speech, India is gearing up to rebut him point by point.
Pakistan has been attempting to internationalise the Kashmir issue following the abrogation of Article 370, that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
At the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on September 10, Pakistan tried to present a false narrative on Kashmir with its Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stating that the Valley had been converted into the “largest prison” with people being denied access to basic amenities following the abrogation of Article 370.
Pakistan had knocked the doors of the UNHRC after it failed to gain global attention on Kashmir issue at the UNSC.