MEA rejects China's attempt to raise Kashmir issue at UNSC, calls it 'internal matter'

New Delhi: India slammed China for making yet another attempt to raise Kashmir issue at the UN Security Council, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement calling it an "interference" in India's internal affairs.

"We have noted that China initiated a discussion in the UN Security Council on issues pertaining to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement, adding, "This was not the first time that China has sought to raise a subject that is solely an internal matter of India. As on such previous occasions, this attempt too met with little support from the international community."

The MEA asked China to draw proper conclusions from such "infructuous attempts". "We firmly reject China's interference in our internal affairs and urge it to draw proper conclusions from such infructuous attempts," it said. 

India's reaction came hours after a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing said that any unilateral change to status quo of Jammu and Kashmir is illegal and invalid. Notably, the Chinese action coincides with the first anniversary of the revocation of special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. 

On Wednesday, India`s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti accused Pakistan of singularly, unsuccessfully trying to making inroads into the United Nations on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. 

Taking to Twitter he said: "Another attempt by Pakistan fails. In today`s meeting of UNSC which was closed, informal, not recorded and without any outcome, almost all countries underlined J&K was bilateral issue & did not deserve time & attention of Council," 

Tirumurti had earlier said that almost all the countries at the meeting had agreed that Kashmir was a bilateral issue of India and Pakistan.

China at the behest of Pakistan has in the past — August 2019 and January 2020, raked the Kashmir issue informally at the UNSC. Pakistan has used these developments to spread propaganda while not explaining that these meets are informal and without outcome.  

The latest development comes amidst China's growing aggressiveness with India at the Line of Actual Control in the union territory of Ladakh. In the Galwan incident as many as 20 Indian soldiers lost lives while China has been quiet about the number of casualties on its side.