UNITED NATIONS,: India has warned Pakistan against treating nuclear weapons as “routine instruments of statecraft”, saying New Delhi will not bow to nuclear blackmail and that any terrorist attack on the country will draw a fitting response.
India spoke on Friday, exercising its Right of Reply at the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. Anmol Sher Singh Bedi, Senior Adviser (Disarmament) at India’s Permanent Mission to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, rejected Pakistan’s remarks on Jammu and Kashmir. He said the Union Territory is an integral and inalienable part of India.
He cautioned that using a nuclear threat to shield activity below the threshold of conventional conflict could raise the risk of escalation rather than promote restraint. New Delhi also defended Operation Sindoor as a measured act of self-defence after the Pahalgam terror attack.
On proliferation, Bedi cited the AQ Khan network, which spread nuclear equipment and technology. He urged all countries and responsible suppliers to exercise the highest vigilance when considering nuclear cooperation and transfers of advanced military capabilities.
He added that India’s right of self-defence remains intact.