New Delhi: India on Tuesday (July 22) pushed back against Pakistan at the UN Security Council after Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar used a high-level debate on peaceful dispute resolution to raise the Kashmir issue and criticise the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, describing Pakistan as “steeped in fanaticism and terrorism” and a “serial borrower from the IMF”.

Dar, who chaired the meeting as part of Pakistan’s rotating presidency of the Security Council, alleged that India has been violating UN resolutions and international law.

He also accused New Delhi of unilaterally disrupting long-standing water-sharing arrangements under the Indus Waters Treaty, and reiterated Pakistan’s demand for the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir.

Responding later in the meeting, India’s permanent representative to the UN, P. Harish, dismissed Pakistan’s comments.

“On the one hand, there is India which is a mature democracy, a surging economy and a pluralistic and inclusive society. At the other extreme is Pakistan, steeped in fanaticism and terrorism, and a serial borrower from the IMF,” Harish said.

Without naming Pakistan initially, Harish argued that the council must take a firm position on cross-border terrorism. “It ill-behoves a member of the council to offer homilies while indulging in practices that are unacceptable to the international community,” he said.

Harish defended India's recent military action under the aegis of ‘Operation Sindoor’ carried out in the wake of the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam. He said that India's strikes targeted terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and were “focused, measured and non-escalatory”.

He added that India halted operations once its objectives were met, “at the request of Pakistan”.

The Indian envoy argued that there must be “serious cost to states who violate the spirit of good neighbourliness and international relations by fomenting cross-border terrorism”.

India had put the World Bank-brokered Indus Waters Treaty “in abeyance” a day after the Pahalgam terror attack.

India has maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter, and that bilateral issues with Pakistan must be addressed without third-party interference.

However, New Delhi has grown increasingly uneasy with US President Donald Trump’s repeated public statements claiming a role in brokering the ceasefire following the four-day escalation between the two countries earlier this year. India has maintained that the cessation of hostilities was the result of direct communication between military leaderships.

Harish reaffirmed India’s commitment to peaceful dispute resolution under the UN Charter, but insisted that “national ownership and consent” must remain central to any peace process.

He also called for urgent reforms of the UN Security Council to address growing doubts about its representativeness and effectiveness. “The continuing UN Security Council impasse also shows the increasing challenges to its functioning,” Harish said

In his broader remarks, Harish noted that the nature of conflicts has changed in recent decades, with the rise of non-state actors backed by state sponsors, and the spread of radical ideologies facilitated by digital platforms. There were new pressures on UN peacekeeping operations, he said, adding that peacebuilding has also acquired greater salience.

At the start of the meeting, the 15-member body adopted the Pakistan-drafted resolution for strengthening mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of disputes. It also called on member states to make full use of diplomatic tools such as negotiation, mediation, conciliation and arbitration to resolve disputes peacefully.

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