Hitting back at Pakistan for bringing up the Jammu and Kashmir issue once again in the United Nations, India on Tuesday said the neighbouring country must vacate the territory which it "continues to illegally occupy".

Addressing the UN Security Council, India's permanent representative, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, said, "India is compelled to note that the delegate of Pakistan has yet again resorted to unwarranted remarks on the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Such repeated references neither validate their illegal claims nor justify their state-sponsored cross-border terrorism."

"Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will always be an integral part of India."

"Pakistan continues to illegally occupy the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which it must vacate. We would advise Pakistan not to try to divert the attention of this forum to drive their parochial and divisive agenda. India will refrain from exercising a more elaborate Right of Reply," he added.

  Harish's response comes after Syed Tariq Fatemi, a special assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister, had raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at the UN.

Last month, India called Pakistan a "failed state" which "survives on international handouts" in a scathing attack on its hostile neighbour amid the decades-old cross-border tension.

India's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Kshitij Tyagi, said this during the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Tyagi said, "It is regrettable to see Pakistan's leaders and delegates continuing to spread falsehoods handed down by its military terrorist complex. Pakistan is making a mockery of the OIC by abusing it as its mouthpiece. It is unfortunate that this Council's time continues to be wasted by a failed state which thrives on instability and survives on international handouts.

"Its rhetoric reeks of hypocrisy, its actions of inhumanity and its governance of incompetence. India remains focused on democracy, progress and ensuring dignity for its people. Values that Pakistan would do well to learn from."

Tyagi lashed out at Pakistan over its claims of human rights violation in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the two union territories in India.

He said, "The Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. The unprecedented political, social and economic progress in J&K in the past few years speaks for itself. These successes are a testament to the people's trust in the government's commitment to bring normalcy to a region scarred by decades of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

"As a country where human rights abuses, persecution of minorities and systematic erosion of democratic values constitute state policies and which brazenly harbours UN-sanctioned terrorists, Pakistan is in no position to lecture anyone."

"Instead of its unhealthy obsession with India, Pakistan should focus on providing actual governance and justice to its own people. It is unfortunate that this Council's time continues to be wasted by a failed state which thrives on instability and survives on international handouts.

"Its rhetoric reeks of hypocrisy, its actions of inhumanity and its governance of incompetence. India remains focused on democracy, progress and ensuring dignity for its people. Values that Pakistan would do well to learn from," Tyagi added.