India Tells UN Pakistan's Civilian Governments 'Serve at Army's Mercy'

India Tells UN Pakistan's Civilian Governments 'Serve at Army's Mercy'

India used its Right of Reply at the UN General Assembly's Third Committee on Friday to tear into Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir, telling the world body that Islamabad's civilian governments function at the mercy of its army and rarely finish their terms.

Bhavika Mangalanandan, First Secretary at India's Permanent Mission to the UN, delivered the rebuttal after a Pakistani delegate raised the Kashmir issue during the committee's session, according to the Press Trust of India. The Third Committee handles social, humanitarian and cultural matters.

"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, per PTI reporting carried by the Times of India, Deccan Chronicle, Business Standard, Hindustan Times and the New Indian Express.

She pointed to former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, who remains in jail with health described as deteriorating, and noted his party has been barred from contesting elections. The sources do not specify when Khan was removed from office or the circumstances of his ouster.

Mangalanandan argued Pakistan uses cross-border terrorism as a distraction from domestic unrest. "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.

The Kashmir Argument

India categorically rejected Pakistan's remarks on Jammu and Kashmir, insisting the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are "integral and inalienable" parts of India. Mangalanandan said the only unresolved matter is Pakistan vacating territory it holds "under illegal and forcible occupation," a reference to Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

She accused Pakistan of using the UN floor to mask what she called an ongoing crackdown in Rawalakot and other cities in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, where she said hundreds of civilians have been killed for "merely demanding bread, electricity and human dignity."

Mangalanandan invoked the term "Form 47," used to describe allegations of rigging and manipulation in Pakistan's 2024 general elections. "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.

By contrast, she noted Jammu and Kashmir held assembly elections in 2024 with a massive turnout followed by a peaceful transfer of power to an elected government. "The contrast could not have been starker," she said, adding that "the only human rights violation taking place in Kashmir is perpetrated by the Armed Forces of Pakistan and their terrorist proxies."

The available reporting, all built around the same PTI dispatch, lays out India's full rebuttal in detail but does not include the specific text of Pakistan's original remarks to the committee. We know Pakistan's delegate "raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir," but not the exact language used or what claims, if any, were cited.

No international body has issued new findings tied to this specific exchange. This was a diplomatic sparring match, not a ruling or an investigation. Pakistan has not yet issued a public response to India's remarks, according to the available reporting, and no outlet has published Islamabad's reaction as of this writing.

The exchange is the latest round in a decades-long argument that plays out almost every UN cycle, with each side using its Right of Reply to restate positions neither has budged from in years. Whether Pakistan responds at the UN before the Third Committee's session closes, and what it says, remains to be seen.