Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on camera called India “friend” and then fumbled and used the words “neighbouring country” instead with a smile as he admitted that it’s an “uphill task” for Pakistan to get the Kashmir issue into the centre of the agenda of the United Nations. Bilawal was answering a question when he said, “You’re also right to note that we face a particularly uphill task to try and get Kashmir into the centre of the agenda at the United Nations.”
“And whenever the issue of Kashmir is brought up, our friends within, with.. our friend… our.. our… neighbouring countries, strongly object, vociferously object and they perpetuate a post-fact narrative where they try to claim that this is not a dispute for the United Nations, that this is not a disputed territory recognised for the international community,” Bilawal said.
The Pakistan foreign minister recently raked up the Kashmir issue at the UNSC debate and got a befitting reply from the Indian side as India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said India finds its ‘unworthy’ to even respond to Pakistan’s “malicious and false propaganda”. “Before I conclude, let me dismiss the frivolous, baseless and politically motivated remarks made by the delegate of Pakistan regarding the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” Kamboj said.
(With PTI inputs)