Pakistan's one-trick pony act on Kashmir doesn't resonate at UN: Akbaruddin

India will focus on a broad multilateral agenda at the upcoming high-level United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session rather than allow the proceedings to be dominated by Pakistan's repeated attempts to raise the Kashmir issue, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the UNGA session, Akbaruddin said India believed that the UN worked most effectively through multilateral cooperation and partnerships. He said India's positions generally received greater international support when presented within a broader global framework.

Responding to questions about the possibility of Pakistan raising Kashmir at the UNGA, Akbaruddin said India was prepared to deal with the issue but would not allow it to distract from its wider priorities.

“If somebody else would like to be a one-trick pony, it is for them to regurgitate that act. We've handled this act many times in the past and are confident we'll do so again,” he said.

He added that countries acting alone in a multilateral forum were unlikely to gain significant support, saying that “solo players in a multilateral context have neither a past nor a future”.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had already said Islamabad would raise Kashmir during the UNGA and provide what he called unequivocal support to the issue.

Pakistan has consistently raised Kashmir at international forums, including meetings where the subject was not directly related to the agenda. India has maintained that the issue is primarily a bilateral matter and has repeatedly rejected attempts to internationalise it.

Akbaruddin also referred to an incident during the 2017 UNGA session when Pakistan's then Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi displayed a photograph of a wounded Palestinian girl while presenting it as evidence of alleged Indian actions in Kashmir. The incident drew widespread criticism after the photograph's actual origin was identified.

The Indian diplomat said New Delhi's approach to international issues was not limited to bilateral disputes. He cited terrorism as an example, saying that when India raises the issue it places it within a global context, pointing to threats posed by groups such as Boko Haram in Africa and terrorist organisations operating in other parts of the world.

India's delegation at the UNGA will be led by then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. According to Akbaruddin, the country's main focus will be on five broad areas: reforming multilateral institutions, climate action, healthcare, development and peacekeeping.

India was also expected to highlight its recent launch of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance programme, which the government described as the world's largest publicly funded healthcare initiative.

Then Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda was scheduled to join the Indian delegation for high-level UN discussions on ending tuberculosis and tackling non-communicable diseases.

Sushma Swaraj was scheduled to address the UNGA on Saturday morning. She was listed as the fifth speaker, with her address expected at around 7.15 p.m. Indian time.

Qureshi was scheduled to speak during the afternoon session on the same day, potentially giving him an opportunity to respond to Swaraj's address.

If Pakistan raised issues concerning India during its speech, India would have the right to exercise a formal right of reply. Depending on the proceedings, that response could come toward the end of the same session or during the following Monday session.

Under UNGA practice, the right of reply is generally exercised by a relatively junior diplomat rather than the country's senior political representative.