UNITED NATIONS: India and Pakistan Thursday night clashed in the United Nations general assembly when Pakistani representative called for support to the “struggle of the people” in Kashmir for a “democratic life, free from terror and exploitation.”
The reference was unexpected during the special session against apartheid as the issue had nothing to do with racial discrimination.
Exercising his right of reply, Indian Ambassador CR Gharekhan expressed shock and surprise at Pakistan, “abusing,” the special session to make a “‘tendentious and unwarranted references to Kashmir, outrageously combing it in ‘one breath with apartheid.”
“My delegation finds this totally unacceptable. This is all the more so because we have come to this special session to concentrate our efforts towards elimination of apartheid. Such extraneous references can only divert the attention of the assembly from the struggle against apartheid and harm our common endeavor,” Gharekhan said.
After the session, several delegates, especially from African countries, expressed their dismay at Pakistan raising extraneous issues in the special session.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 22, 1989
