India on Tuesday said it did not expect Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to rake up the Kashmir issue at the UN General Assembly, affirming that the state is its integral part. I did not expect that President Zardari would make a reference to Kashmir and once a reference from Pakistan
at the highest level in the UN is made, then it is certainly the responsibility of India to state its position, external affairs minister SM Krishna said.
His comments came as Pakistan, reacting to Krishnas reference to Kashmir in his UNGA address, claimed that Jammu and Kashmir had never been an integral part of India and said Zardaris statement on the issue was not unwarranted.
Krishna, in his address to the 193-member General Assembly, had said that an unwarranted reference to Jammu and Kashmir was made from the UN podium. … We wish to make it abundantly clear that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, he had said in his address.
Krishna on Tuesday said his remark on Kashmir should be read in the right sequence.
Read this (reference to Kashmir) in the sequence in which it emerges, he said, adding he had to respond to Zardaris speech.