Speaking a press conference in Islamabad, UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir said it was "Pakistan's duty" to bring the issue of the Jammu and Kashmir more strongly to the UN. India hit out against the statements, saying his "misleading and prejudiced" remarks does "great disservice to the office he occupies".
Bozkir, a former Turkish diplomat, had arrived at the Pakistan capiral on Wednesday for an official visit at the invitation of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said his remarks are "unacceptable" and his reference to the Indian Union Territory is "unwarranted". "When an incumbent president of the UN general assembly makes misleading and prejudiced remarks, he does great disservice to the office he occupies. The president's behaviour is truly regrettable and surely diminishes his standing on the global platform," MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in response to a media query on the issue. Expressing "strong opposition to the unwarranted references", Bagchi said his remarks that "Pakistan is duty bound to raise this issue in the UN more strongly" are unacceptable. "Nor indeed is there any basis for comparison to other global situations."
Bozkir, in his visit to Pakistan, had also said that peace, stability and prosperity in South Asia hinged on normalisation of relations between Pakistan and India, which was possible by the resolution of the Kashmir issue. "I urge India and Pakistan to work for a peaceful solution to this problem," he said. "I have always urged the parties to refrain from changing the status of the disputed territory," Bozkir said, apparently in a veiled reference to India's move to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories in August, 2019.
Bozkir also held talks with him in the ministry of foreign affairs. He reiterated that the UN position on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is governed by the UN charter and relevant UNSC resolutions.
