India calls out Pakistan's 'unique' democracy: 'Imran Khan jailed, Asim Munir given lifetime immunity'

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan (L) and Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir (Courtesy:

India once again strongly dismissed Pakistan's renewed attempt to raise Jammu & Kashmir at the United Nations. India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, outrightly rejected Islamabad's assertions and reiterated that J&K is an integral part of India.

"The Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India ... They were, are, and will always remain so," he said at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate on 'Leadership for Peace'.

Parvathaneni called out Islamabad's "obsessive focus on harming India and its people" referring to the remarks made by Pakistan's representative during the debate.

India also tore into Pakistan’s 'divisive agenda' at the UN Security Council, highlighting what it called Islamabad’s unique interpretation of the people's will — imprisoning a prime minister while granting lifetime immunity to its army chief.

"Pakistan, of course, has a unique way of respecting the will of its people - by jailing a prime minister, by banning the ruling political party, and by letting its armed forces engineer a constitutional coup through the 27th amendment and giving life-time immunity to its Chief of Defence Forces," Parvathaneni said.

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan has been imprisoned since his arrest in August 2023 on corruption charges and has reportedly been held for extended periods in solitary confinement. The 27th Constitutional Amendment which was passed last month under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif gives Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir lifelong immunity from any legal prosecution.

Terming Pakistan the 'global epicentre of terror', he further outlined the reasons behind India's decision to terminate the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). "India had entered into the Indus Waters Treaty, 65 years ago, in good faith, in a spirit of good will and friendship. Throughout these 6.5 decades, Pakistan has violated the spirit of the Treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India," he said.

Citing the ghastly Pahalgam attack which claimed 26 lives in April, Parvathaneni said that in the last four decades, tens of thousands of Indian lives have been lost in 'Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks'.

"It is in this backdrop that India has finally announced that the IWT will be held in abeyance until Pakistan, which is a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border and all other forms of terrorism," he noted.