Pakistan's Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz SharifIndia on Friday hit back at Pakistan at the UN General Assembly, rejecting Islamabad’s remarks on Jammu and Kashmir and accusing its “so-called” civilian governments of serving “at the mercy” of the army. Exercising its Right of Reply during a Third Committee meeting, first secretary at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Bhavika Mangalanandan said Pakistan’s civilian governments “rarely complete their terms”, while accusing Islamabad of using cross-border terrorism to divert attention from domestic discontent.

“We all know that the so-called civilian governments in Pakistan serve at the mercy of their army and rarely complete their terms,” Mangalanandan said. Referring to jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, she said a “former Prime Minister continues to remain in jail, even as his health is reported to be fast deteriorating.”

“Instead of addressing domestic discontent, Pakistan seeks to distract by fomenting instability in India and sponsoring, inciting, abetting, and financing cross-border terrorism in my country for more than three decades,” she said. Turning to Jammu and Kashmir, Mangalanandan said, “The only outstanding matter is a vacation of the territory Pakistan holds under illegal and forcible occupation.

“This is a desperate attempt by Pakistan to mask the ongoing tragedy in Rawalakot and its other cities, the killing of hundreds of civilians, and the brutal crackdown across Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, for merely demanding bread, electricity and human dignity,” she said. “When any free media is banned from covering such news in Pakistan, the evidence becomes undeniable for the global community that only the writ of the Form 47 government and their masters and the army headquarters runs large,” she said.

“The contrast could not have been starker. The only human rights violation taking place in Kashmir is perpetrated by the armed forces of Pakistan and their terrorist proxies.

“Pakistan would serve its people better by confronting its own fault lines and building its economy than by coveting the territory of others,” she added.