New Delhi: India on Tuesday said Pakistan continued to "illegally occupy" part of Jammu and Kashmir, and "must vacate" the territory while slamming the neighbouring country for its "repeated references" to J&K at a United Nations debate on peacekeeping reforms. Speaking at the Security Council, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, said the remarks were "unwarranted" and reiterated that the region "was, is, and will always be an integral part of India."

 "India is compelled to note that the delegate of Pakistan has yet again resorted to unwarranted remarks on the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Such repeated references neither validate their illegal claims nor justify their state-sponsored cross-border terrorism," Harish said. "Pakistan continues to illegally occupy the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which it must vacate. We would advise Pakistan not to try to divert the attention of this forum to drive its parochial and divisive agenda. India will refrain from exercising a more elaborate Right of Reply," he said. India's retort came after Syed Tariq Fatemi, the Special Assistant to the Pakistan Prime Minister, spoke on Jammu and Kashmir during a discussion on the future of UN Peacekeeping at the Security Council.

Last week also, India rebuked Pakistan at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHR) meeting in Geneva, rejecting its allegations of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. "It is regrettable to see Pakistan’s so-called leaders and delegates continuing to dutifully spread falsehoods handed down by its military-terrorist complex," Indian envoy Kshitij Tyagi said. India has always said that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan but insists that it is for Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility. Recently, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that Pakistan vacating Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) would resolve the Kashmir issue in its entirety.

The Minister was responding to a question from a member of the audience at the Chatham House, a think tank based in London, on March 5. EAM Jaishankar said: "Look in Kashmir actually we have done I think good job solving most of it. I think, removing Article 370 was one step number one. Then, restoring growth, economic activity and social justice in Kashmir. It was step number two, holding elections, which was done with a very high turnout for step number three. I think the part we are waiting for is the return of the stolen part of Kashmir, which is in the illegal Pakistani occupation. When that's done, I assure you. Kashmir solved." 

(IANS)