New York: India’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin, has said that India is confident of handling the situation if Pakistan chooses to be a ‘one-trick pony’ by raising the Kashmir issue at the high-level UN General Assembly (UNGA) session.
Responding to a question about the possibility of the neighbour country raking up the issue of Kashmir, Akbaruddin stated that UN works best on multilateralism and that ‘single act plays have no resonance in such matters.’
#WATCH If somebody else would like to be a one trick pony, it is for them to regurgitate&act.We’ve handled this act many times in past & are confident we’ll be able to do it again: Indian Ambassador to UN Syed Akbaruddin on if Pakistan will raise Kashmir issue at #UNGA #NewYork pic.twitter.com/fwXfe35Tty
— ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2018
“Our contention is that UN works best on multilateralism and multi-lateral platforms work best when you work in partnerships. Single act plays has no resonance in such matters. Of course, anybody can try and be a solo player. However, solo players in a multi-lateral context have neither the past nor a future. It is their call how they spend that time allocator to them. We as India work in partnerships. We are proud that all the issues that I listed for you, we have a great resonance in terms of our position. If somebody else would like to be a ‘one trick pony’, it is for them to regurgitate and act. We have handled this act many times in the past and are confident we will be able to do it again,” he said.
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On September 21, India had pulled out of the proposed meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UNGA, hours after two Special Police Officers and one policeman in Jammu and Kashmir were kidnapped and brutally killed by terrorists.
India’s withdrawal also came over Pakistan’s move to release stamps glorifying terrorist Burhan Wani, who was killed by the Indian security forces in 2016 in Kashmir.
Akbaruddin, meanwhile, also said that India would focus on reformed multilateralism at the UNGA.
“There are threats and challenges facing the multilateral system. We are by tradition and inclination multilateralist and we will be helpful in articulating our positions on how we need to strengthen the multilateral system and move towards a reformed multilateralism,” he said while addressing the media here.
On the issue of peace and security, he said, “India is one of the largest troop-contributing countries, a country which has a history of sending our troops to as many as 49 peacekeeping operations.”
The 73rd UNGA debate will begin on September 25 and will be attended by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and a number of other global leaders.
(With ANI inputs)