Syed Akbaruddin, the United Nations (UN) Ambassador of India, on the 19th of September, addressed a press conference at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN. During the conference, Akbaruddin spoke about the upcoming 74th UN General Assembly (UNGA) session to be held in New York.
During the press conference, when asked whether India will speak about the Kashmir issue at the UNGA session, Akbaruddin said, “What you’re telling me is that it will be more of the same, much more of the same from the side of one country. If that is so what is our response? So let me put it this way. That it is for every country to determine its trajectory of how it wants to approach global platforms. There may be some who stoop low. Our response to them is we soar high. They may stoop low, we soar high.” He further added, “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.”
The comments came after Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, said he would raise the Kashmir issue on international platforms. Both Imran Khan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to speak during the UNGA session on the 27th of September.
Mahmood Qureshi, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, confirmed and said Imran Khan will “forcefully” raise the Kashmir issue for discussion at the UNGA session during his speech.
Mr. Modi is expected to conduct multilateral and bilateral meetings with approximately 75 heads and foreign delegations along the sidelines of the 74th UNGA session.
Speaking about Pakistan’s statement about raising the Kashmir issue, Syed Akbaruddin said, “What they want to do is their call. We’ve seen them mainstream terrorism in the past. And what you’re now telling me is they may want to mainstream hate speech. It’s their call if they want to do that. Poison pens don’t work for too long.”
The 74th UNGA session is scheduled on the 27th of September 2019 in New York, the United States of America (U.S.A.)
Stay tuned for further updates.
