India junks Sharif letter to UN, scoffs at sending 22 envoys to world capitals

India on Thursday slammed Pakistan for its repeated attempts to internationalise Kashmir issue and also scoffed at its move to send 22 parliamentarians as special envoys to world capitals to highlight the issue. Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has written to the UN chief for the second time in a month, seeking intervention by sending a fact-finding mission to probe alleged rights violations in the Valley.

"Pakistan can write as many letters as they want to the United Nations but this will not change the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly briefing here.

The MEA spokesperson also slammed Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's appointment of 22 special envoys to the United Nations to raise the Kashmir issue. "Sending out 22 envoys is not going to make untenable claims legal. They should have sent just one envoy with the right message to right country of putting an end to cross-border terrorism," he said.

The spokesperson said that a part of J&K was illegally occupied by Pakistan and was a concern for India. "The ground reality is that part of J&K is under illegal occupation of Pakistan. Any third party collaboration will be our concern," Vikas Swarup said.

Foreign office (FO) spokesperson Nafees Zakariya said in Islamabad that Sharif sent the letter to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon apprising him of the deteriorating situation in Kashmir. Sharif sent the letter in response to UN secretary general's call for making efforts to avoid further violence in Kashmir, he said.

"The Prime Minister mentioned that while 'Azad Jammu and Kashmir' cannot be compared in terms of the grim and tragic situation of human rights in Kashmir, it remains open to any UN mission for a visit as it has always facilitated the UNMOGIP, foreign diplomats and tourists," the FO said.

The letter called Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on Balochistan and PoK as unwarranted and in complete contravention of the UN charter. It said the remarks were aimed at diverting the world attention from the ongoing atrocities in the Kashmir valley.

Sharif welcomed the UN secretary general's offer of his good offices and said that Kashmir is the main dispute between India and Pakistan. The spokesperson also said that Pakistan would continue its efforts to raise the Kashmir dispute at all international levels.

"The Kashmir issue will figure prominently at the upcoming annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) meetings on the sidelines of the UN session," Zakaria said. He said Pakistan wants peaceful resolution of the lingering Kashmir dispute through the dialogue process but rejected any preconditions for the talks.

Meanwhile, the second round of the trilateral meeting between Afghanistan, India and Iran, held in Tehran on Wednesday, emphasized the need for regional cooperation to counter current and emerging threats of terrorism and extremism.

In regard to the recent trilateral agreement signed by the three countries in May 2016 in Tehran on development of transit routes to Afghanistan and the region through the port of Chabahar, it was agreed that, in preparation for use of Chabahar to this end, some specialised meetings and seminars be organised for relevant experts and representatives from trade and industry and the recommendations be reviewed in the next meeting of the director-generals, which will be held in Kabul.