External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has called on BRICS to defend the multilateral trading system amid increasing protectionism and tariff volatility during a meeting of the Bloc’s foreign ministers in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) session.

“When multilateralism is under stress, BRICS has stood firm as a strong voice of reason and constructive change,” Mr. Jaishankar said in a social media post. “In a turbulent world, BRICS must reinforce the message of peacebuilding, dialogue, diplomacy and adherence to international law,” he said.’

U.S. President Donald Trump relentlessly mocked the United Nations on Tuesday (September 23, 2025) in his first address since his White House comeback, blasting it for failing to bring peace and claiming the world body encourages illegal migration.

U.S. President Trump’s address at the UNGA: Follow highlights, updates from September 23, 2025

In his return to the U.N. General Assembly podium, Mr. Trump accused the U.N. of fostering an “assault” through migration on Western countries that he said were “going to hell.”

He likewise used the major forum to denounce efforts to reduce global warming, calling climate change concerns “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” asked Mr. Trump. “All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter,” he said. “It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war”

The 79-year-old even complained about a broken escalator and teleprompter at the New York headquarters of the U.N., which he has repeatedly targeted during both of his presidential terms.

Also Read | U.N. chief warns world leaders of ’an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering’

“This is these are the two things I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he said.

Touting what he said were his efforts to end seven wars, Trump turned to two where his outreach has produced no results — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.

He called recognition by a slate of Washington’s allies of a Palestinian state a “reward” to armed group Hamas for “horrible atrocities” and urged the group to release hostages to reach peace.

Mr. Trump lashed out at European allies, as well as China and India, for failing to stop oil purchases from Russia, while remaining relatively restrained on Moscow even as he said Washington was ready to impose unspecified sanctions.

Some of his strongest language was reserved for migration as he lambasted the UN for “funding an assault” on Western nations.

“It’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders,” Mr. Trump said. “Your countries are going to hell,” he said, also attacking London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital.

‘Wreaking havoc’

Mr. Trump’s second term has opened with a blaze of nationalist policies curbing cooperation with the rest of the world.

He has moved to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization and the U.N. climate pact, severely curtailed US development assistance and wielded sanctions against foreign judges over rulings he sees as violating sovereignty.

Opening the annual summit, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that aid cuts led by the United States were “wreaking havoc” in the world.

“What kind of world will we choose? A world of raw power — or a world of laws?” Mr. Guterres said.

On Ukraine, Mr. Trump will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the second time since he sat down in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 — a summit that broke Moscow’s isolation in the West but yielded no breakthrough on Ukraine.

Despite Mr. Trump’s insistence that he can broker a quick end to the war, Russia has not only kept up its barrage of attacks on Ukraine in the past month but rattled nerves with drone or air incursions in NATO members Poland, Estonia and Romania.

Mr. Trump said last week that Mr. Putin had “really let me down.”

One of Mr. Trump’s few other one-on-one meetings will be with Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei, an ideological ally to whose government the United States is considering offering an economic lifeline.

Ahead of his visit to the U.N. district, swarming with heavily armed police and agents and crisscrossed with barricades and road closures, the U.S. Secret Service said they had disrupted a “telecommunications-related” plot.

The Secret Service said it a weaponised farm of more than 1,00,000 cellphone SIM cards that was capable of blocking communications around the U.N., and that it “nation-state threat actors” were involved.

Published – September 23, 2025 09:13 pm IST

World leaders begin convening Monday (September 22, 2025) at one of the most volatile moments in the United Nations’ 80-year history, and the challenges they face are as dire as ever if not more so: unyielding wars in Gaza and Ukraine, escalating changes in the U.S. approach to the world, hungry people everywhere and technologies that are advancing faster than the understanding of how to manage them.

The United Nations itself, which emerged from World War II’s rubble on the premise that nations would work together to tackle political, social and financial issues, is in crisis itself.

As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week: “International cooperation is straining under pressures unseen in our lifetimes.”

Yet the annual high-level gathering at the U.N. General Assembly will bring Presidents, Prime Ministers and monarchs from about 150 of the 193 U.N. member nations to UN headquarters.

The secretary-general says it is an opportunity that can’t be missed — even in the most challenging of moments.

“We are gathering in turbulent — even uncharted — waters,” Mr. Guterres said. He pointed to, among other spectres, “our planet overheating, new technologies racing ahead without guardrails, inequalities widening by the hour.”

They gather for a better world, but can they build it?

Mr. Guterres said he will use the more than 150 one-on-one meetings he has with leaders and ministers to urge that they speak to each other, bridge divides, reduce risks and find solutions — to conflicts, to keep the planet from increased warming, to put guardrails on fast-expanding artificial intelligence, and to find funding for lagging UN goals for 2030 including ending poverty in all countries and ensuring quality education for every child.

He said leaders must make progress, not merely engage in “posturing and promises”.

But U.N. watchers say that in a deeply polarised world, with no prospects of ceasefires in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, whether the high-level meeting makes any progress remains a big question mark.

Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group, said he is confident three topics will dominate high-level week – US President Donald Trump’s first appearance in his second term, the horrific situation in Gaza, and what’s next for the United Nations as it grapples with major funding and staff cuts, mainly due to the cutoff in US payments to its regular and peacekeeping budgets.

Mr. Gowan said he expects the nearly two-year war in Gaza to be the central issue, as Israel launches a major offensive in Gaza City forcing thousands to flee and following a report by independent experts commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council that accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the allegation, calling the report “distorted and false”.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, has stressed that “Palestine is going to be the huge elephant in this session of the General Assembly”.

It will be front and centre on Monday (September 22, 2025) at a high-level meeting co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on implementing a two-state solution to the nearly eight-decade Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

And the spotlight will be even brighter because the Trump administration refused to give a US visa to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to speak at that meeting and the General Assembly.

On Friday (September 19, 2025) , the General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution enabling Mr. Abbas to speak by video — as it did in 2022 for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following Russia’s invasion. This year Mr. Zelenskyy will be attending in person, and the Security Council is expected to meet on Ukraine on Tuesday (September 23, 2025).

The assembly voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to support a two-state solution and urge Israel to commit to a Palestinian state. Hours before that vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “there will be no Palestinian state”.

More than 145 countries already recognise Palestine as a state, and Mansour told The Associated Press on Sunday that “it’s going to be 10 more” announcing their recognition at Monday afternoon’s meeting. High-level week is also expected to see a Security Council meeting on Gaza, possibly Tuesday afternoon.

Lots of thorny issues are on the docket

The high-level meeting starts Tuesday (September 23, 2025) morning in the vast General Assembly chamber. Mr. Trump will speak that day shortly after Mr. Guterres’ opening “state of the world” speech.

Gowan said there is “hope” that Trump will come in a positive mood, touting the international accomplishments that the president says merit the Nobel Peace Prize. Also on the docket: Trump’s financial approach to the larger world.

“Obviously, most leaders are going to be focusing on what he has to say about tariffs,” Gowan said, but also about Russia and China.

Other speakers to watch are interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, making his debut on the international stage following the ouster of former strongman Bashar Assad in December, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Iranian leader will be in New York days after the Security Council decided not to permanently lift UN sanctions on his country over its escalating nuclear programme, but it gave Tehran and key European powers France, Germany and the United Kingdom until midnight Sept 27 to agree to a delay. That’s when the sanctions will automatically “snapback” unless a deal is reached.

High-level week will also see numerous meetings on tackling climate change; on the more than two-year war in Sudan started by rival military and paramilitary generals that has sparked the world’s worst displacement crisis; on Somalia, which is home to the extremist group Al-Shabab; and on Haiti, where gangs control over 90% of the capital and have expanded into the countryside.

An event on Monday (September 22, 2025) will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Beijing women’s conference, which adopted a platform to achieve gender equality. The United Nations says that goal is growing more distant and Guterres has said it is 300 years away on the current track.

One of Mr. Guterres’ major aims this year: to generate support for his plans to reform the United Nations and make it more responsive to the world as it is in 2025.

Because of funding cuts by the US and others, the UN announced last week that its regular operating budget for 2026 needs to be cut by 15% to $3,2 billion along with a 19% cut in that budget’s staff positions. — 2,681 posts.

Mr. Gowan said he doesn’t see the United States or other countries running away from the United Nations. But he stressed that it is going through “an extraordinarily difficult period” and will have to shrink and change.

“The U.N.’s resonance on peace and security issues is unquestionably not what it was,” he said, “but I think that the organisation will continue to muddle through.”

Published – September 22, 2025 11:04 am IST

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani walks as he is welcomed by Jordan’s King Abdullah upon his arrival at Marka military airport, in Amman, Jordan, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Alaa Al Sukhni
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Amid the ongoing Ukraine and Gaza conflicts, India on Saturday (September 28, 2024) cautioned that the world cannot be “fatalistic” about the continuation of violence on a large scale, asserting that the international community seeks “urgent solutions” and its sentiments must be acknowledged and acted upon.

“We are gathered here at a difficult time. The world is yet to recover from the ravages of the Covid pandemic. A war in Ukraine is well into its third year. The conflict in Gaza is acquiring wider ramifications,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at the General Debate of the 79th U.N. General Assembly.

He said the U.N. has always maintained that peace and development go hand-in-hand. “Yet, when challenges to one have emerged, due regard has not been given to the other. Clearly, their economic implications for the weak and vulnerable need to be highlighted,” Jaishankar said.

“But we must also recognise that conflicts themselves must be resolved. The world cannot be fatalistic about the continuation of violence on a large scale, no more than be impervious to its broader consequences,” he said.

Also Read: Jaishankar hits back at Pakistan in U.N. General Assembly address

Mr. Jaishankar said whether it is the war in Ukraine or the conflict in Gaza, the international community seeks “urgent solutions” and “these sentiments must be acknowledged and acted upon”.

India lamented that across the Global South, development plans have gone off rails and SDG targets are receding.

“But there is more. Unfair trade practices threaten jobs, just as unviable projects raise debt levels. Any connectivity that flouts sovereignty and territorial integrity acquires strategic connotations. Especially when it is not a shared endeavour,” Jaishankar said, in an apparent reference to China.

He said the world stands fractious, polarised and frustrated.

“Conversations have become difficult; agreements even more so. This is surely not what the founders of the United Nations would have wanted of us,” the Minister said.

He said trust has eroded and processes have broken down. “Countries have extracted more from the international system than they have put into it, enfeebling it in the process.”

Mr. Jaishankar highlighted that an important cause of many getting left behind has been the unfairness of the current globalisation model.

“Over-concentration of production has hollowed out many economies, impacting their employment and social stability…Democratising global production, building resilient supply chains, ensuring trusted digital services, and espousing an open-source culture, all these promote widespread prosperity. There are economic answers, just as there are social ones,” he said.

Mr. Jaishankar said the U.N. is a testimony to the agreed principles and shared objectives of the world order, and respect for international law and commitments are among the foremost in that regard.

“If we are to ensure global security and stability, then it is essential that those who seek to lead, set the right example. Nor can we countenance egregious violations of our basic tenets,” he said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar poses for a picture with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa during the G4 Foreign Ministers Meeting, in New York.
| Photo Credit: ANI

With the United Nations (UN) approaching its 80th anniversary next year, the Group of Four (G4) countries — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — seeking permanent membership and reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday (September 26, 2024) called for urgent reform of the world body. Other plurilateral groupings, such as the L69 and C-10 also echoed these calls.

The G4 meeting, held on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the Foreign Minister level on September 23, reviewed progress made on these reforms.

In a joint statement released on September 26, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his G4 counterparts noted the “significant challenges” to the multilateral system, centred around the UN, as they welcomed the urgent call for reform at the UN’s ‘Summit of the Future’, held earlier this week.

The G4 Ministers reiterated the need for an increase in both permanent and non-permanent categories of UNSC membership, to enhance the participation of developing countries, as well as “ those significantly contributing to international peace and security” at the UNSC .

The group highlighted the need for better representation for regions such as Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean in permanent and non-permanent categories.

The Ministers “voiced strong concern” over the absence of substantial progress in the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) and said text-based negotiations needed to start urgently.

The L69 group of countries, of which India is a part, met on Thursday, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph E. Gonsalves. The group held a joint meeting with the C-10 group of ten African countries.

“Encouraged by the first-ever Joint Ministerial Meeting of L69 and C-10 groupings of nations,” Mr. Jaishankar tweeted.

They emphasised that transformative reform of the Security Council must include greater representation for the Global South. The Ministers said developing countries had an “indispensable” role in safeguarding the relevance and effectiveness of the Security Council.

“The Ministers reiterated the urgent need to make the Security Council more representative, transparent, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable, and recognised that the Summit of the Future provided an opportunity for renewed commitment to Security Council reform,” the group said in a statement released on Thursday.

Both the L69 and the G4 reaffirmed their strong support to the Common African Position (CAP) based on the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.

The countries said further delays in comprehensive reform impacted the UN’s “credibility and legitimacy”.

On Thursday, Mr. Jaishankar announced that he had also met his counterparts Foreign Ministers Mauro Vieira of Brazil and Ronald Lamola of South Africa in the IBSA (India Brazil South Africa) group.

“We share convergent views on reforms of UN system and of its Security Council. Our consultations should intensify as these debates acquire greater urgency,” he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden looks at his notes as he addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., on September 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

In his fourth and final address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as U.S. President, Joe Biden said the world was at an inflection point . He asked the warring parties in West Asia to accept the peace deal and urged continued support for Ukraine.

Mr Biden used his speech to outline some of his decisions in office and to warn of future challenges, even as he expressed optimism about facing them. Addressing the 79th session of the Assembly, Mr Biden also used his speech to explain his decision not to run for a second term.

“I truly believe we’re at another inflection point in world history,” he said, adding, “The choices we make today will determine our future for decades to come.”

Mr Biden spoke of having seen a “remarkable sweep of history”, as he joked about his age. He walked through the major events of his political career, including the Cold War, the U.S.’s Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa.

“Things can get better. We should never forget that. I’ve seen that throughout my career,” he said, warning there was a lot to be done.

Mr Biden called for continued support to Ukraine against Russia’s aggression.

He called on Israel and Hamas to finalise the terms of a peace deal and to address the condition of innocent Palestinians in the West Bank facing violence.

“Now is the time for the parties to finalise its terms, bring the hostages home and secure security for Israel, a Gaza free of Hamas’s grip, ease the suffering in Gaza, end this war, “ he said.

Mr Biden also urged Sudanese generals to stop fighting and blocking aid to the Sudanese people.

He called on countries to assist African nations fight Mpox and for regulating the safe use of Artificial Intelligence, including , to prevent its misuse by authoritarians.

Mr Biden also pushed for reform at the United Nations.

“The UN needs to adapt and bring new voices and new perspectives. That’s why we support reforming and expanding the membership to the UN Security Council,” he said.

While describing his term in office, Mr Biden defended his administration’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, acknowledging the loss of life the withdrawal had caused.

He said that under his presidency the U.S. had strengthen traditional alliances and built new ones, such as the Quad.

Indo Pacific Partnerships:  Building blocks for security and peace

Mr Biden said the U.S. wanted to manage competition with China so it does not become conflict and that he appreciated China’s cooperation on combatting the flow of synthetic drugs. He said the U.S. would push back against unfair economic competition and military coercion in the South China sea. 

The U.S. would also maintain “peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, protecting our most advanced technologies so they cannot be used against us  or any of our partners”, Mr Biden said.

He said the U.S. was going to build alliances and partnerships across the Indo Pacific, but they were not against any country but “building blocks” of a secure and peaceful Indo-Pacific.

Biden explains decision to retire

Mr Biden  said he had made the preservation of democracy a central cause of his presidency , presumably a reference, at least in part , to domestic politics and former President Donald Trump.

“There’s so much more I wanted to get done,” he said, adding , “As much as I love the job, I love my country more.”

The President also explained to other heads of government, his decision to not seek a second term in office, saying it was time to turn over its leadership to a new generation of leaders.

“My fellow leaders, let us never forget some things are more important than staying in power,” he said.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned world leaders Tuesday (September 24, 2024) that impunity, inequality and uncertainty are creating an “unsustainable world” where a growing number of countries believe they should have a “get out of jail free” card.

“We can’t go on like this,” he said as the General Assembly’s annual debate among presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other leaders began.

Also read | Reform global institutions for peace and development, Modi tells U.N.

Citing deepening geopolitical divisions, wars with no end in sight, climate change and nuclear and emerging weapons, he said humanity is “edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world.”

But, he said, “the challenges we face are solvable” if the international community confronts the uncertainty of unmanaged risks, the inequality that underlies injustices and grievances and the impunity that undermines international law and the U.N.‘s founding principles.

“Today, a growing number of governments and others feel entitled to a “get out of jail free’ card,” he said in a reference to the classic board game Monopoly.

The world leaders’ meeting opened under the shadow of increasing global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine and, Sudan and the threat of an even larger conflict in the wider Middle East.

Mr. Guterres previewed his opening speech at Sunday’s “Summit of the Future,” where he pointed to conflicts from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan and to the global security system, which he said is “threatened by geopolitical divides, nuclear posturing, and the development of new weapons and theaters of war.”

He also cited huge inequalities, the lack of an effective global system to respond to emerging and even existential threats, and the devastating impact of climate change.

One notable moment at Tuesday’s opening assembly meeting: U.S. President Joe Biden’s likely final major appearance on the world stage, a platform upon which he has treaded for decades.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters last week that the U.S. focus in the assembly will be on ending “the scourge of war,” lamenting that roughly two billion people live in conflict-affected areas. “The most vulnerable around the world are counting on us to make progress, to make change, to bring about a sense of hope for them,” she said.

Among other speakers on opening day are Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Iranian leader accused Israel on Monday of seeking a wider war in the Middle East and laying “traps” to lead his country into a broader conflict. He pointed to the deadly explosions of pagers, walkie-talkies and other electronic devices in Lebanon last week, which he blamed on Israel, and the assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, hours after Pezeshkian’s inauguration.

“We don’t want to fight,” the Iranian president said. “It’s Israel that wants to drag everyone into war and destabilize the region. … They are dragging us to a point where we do not wish to go.” Iran supports both Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants.

International Rescue Committee President David Miliband recalled that at the San Francisco conference in 1945 where the U.N. was established, then-U.S. President Harry Truman pleaded with delegates to reject the premise that “might makes right” and reverse it to “right makes might,” which was enshrined in the U.N. Charter.

“Almost 80 years later, we have seen the terrible consequences of the failure to flip this equation,” Miliband said. “In contexts like Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, might is making right.”

Facing mounting global humanitarian needs, unchecked conflict, unmitigated climate change and growing extreme poverty, Miliband challenged world leaders asking: “How will you strengthen, not weaken, the principles of the U.N. Charter for the next 80 years?”

The assembly’s annual meeting, which ends on September 30, followed the two-day Summit of the Future, which adopted a blueprint aimed at bringing the world’s increasing divided nations together to tackle the challenges of the 21st century from conflicts and climate change to artificial intelligence and women’s rights.

The 42-page “Pact for the Future” challenges leaders of the 193 U.N. member nations to turn promises into real actions that make a difference to the lives of the world’s more than 8 billion people.

“We are here to bring multilateralism back from the brink,” Guterres said.

By adopting the pact, leaders unlocked the door, he said. “Now it is our common destiny to walk through it. That demands not just agreement, but action.”

At last year’s U.N. global gathering, Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, took center stage. But as the first anniversary of Hamas’ deadly attack in southern Israel approaches on Oct. 7, the spotlight is certain to be on the war in Gaza and escalating violence across the Israeli-Lebanon border, which is now threatening to spread to the wider Middle East.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to speak Thursday morning and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday afternoon.

Zelenskyy will get the spotlight twice. He will speak Tuesday afternoon at a high-level meeting of the U.N. Security Council called by the United States, France, Japan, Malta, South Korea and Britain, whose foreign ministers are expected to attend. He will also address the General Assembly on Wednesday morning.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his counterparts from the G4 countries.
| Photo Credit: X/@DrSJaishankar

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has met his counterparts from the G4 countries, reaffirming the grouping’s commitment to urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council through text-based negotiations.

The G4 nations comprise Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan.

Mr. Jaishankar, who is in the U.S. on an official visit, on Monday (September 23, 2024) met his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa, the Foreign Minister of Germany Annalena Baerbock and Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“Glad to join the traditional #G4 Foreign Ministers Meeting along with colleagues @ABaerbock, @Kamikawa_Yoko and Mauro Vieira in New York today. G4 reaffirmed its commitment for an urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council through Text Based Negotiations,” Mr. Jaishankar said in a post on X.

The G4 nations support each other’s bids for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.

India has been at the forefront of years-long efforts calling for reform of the Security Council, saying the 15-nation Council, founded in 1945, is not fit for purpose in the 21st Century and does not reflect contemporary geopolitical realities. A polarised Security Council has also failed to deal with current peace and security challenges, with Council members sharply divided on conflicts such as the Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Mr. Jaishankar also held talks with his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil on Monday about energy and economic cooperation, among other things.

“Pleased to meet FM @yvangil of Venezuela today on the sidelines of #UNGA79. Discussed energy, health and economic cooperation, as also reformed multilateralism,” Mr. Jaishankar said in a post on X.

Pratik Mathur. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

India has slammed Pakistan for its “baseless and deceitful narratives” as Islamabad’s envoy made references to Kashmir in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA.)

“Earlier in the day, one delegation misused this forum to spread baseless and deceitful narratives, which is not a surprise,” Minister in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Pratik Mathur said on June 25.

“I will not dignify these remarks with any response, just to save the valuable time of this august body,” he said. Mr. Mathur was delivering India’s statement at the UN General Assembly debate on the Annual Report of the United Nations Security Council.

His retort came after Pakistan’s UN envoy Munir Akram made references to Kashmir in his remarks from the General Assembly podium during the debate.

Pakistan regularly raises the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at various UN platforms, irrespective of the subject matter being discussed or the theme of the forum and fails to get any support or traction.

India has previously rejected Pakistan’s attempts to raise the Kashmir issue at international forums, asserting that the “Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh have been, are and will always remain integral and inalienable parts of India.”