Even though it is confident of tackling Islamabad’s diplomatic challenge in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, India is pulling out all the stops to counter the Pakistani narrative on Jammu and Kashmir at the coming UN General Assembly meet.

Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan are scheduled to speak on 27 September at the UNGA. With Khan declaring his resolve to highlight J&K in his speech, India is gearing up to rebut him point by point, sources here said.

Apart from External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Indian delegation will include Permanent Representative of India to the UN Syed Akbaruddin, who has been Pakistan’s nemesis on several occasions in the past.

But prior to the UNGA, the ongoing UN Human Rights Council (HRC) meet in Geneva has suddenly assumed greater significance for India since Pakistan has threatened to introduce a resolution for an urgent debate on J&K. However, it has so far not succeeded in enlisting the majority support at the 47-member UNHRC. The last date for introducing such a resolution is 19 September.

A battery of ace Indian diplomats, including expelled Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria, are currently in Geneva lobbying with UNHRC members to thwart attempts by Pakistan to garner their support. Foreign Minister Jaishankar has visited or personally spoken to a majority of the foreign ministers of UNHRC member countries, explaining to them the rationale behind changing the status of J&K while emphasising that it was entirely an internal matter of India.

So far, China and Belarus have made a passing reference to the situation in J&K at the UNHRC meet. ”We will have to wait and see how things play out at UNHRC meet… the Pakistani side is ratcheting up tensions by creating war hysteria. We have to ensure that they (Pakistan) don’t influence UNHRC member countries and succeed in their evil designs,” a government source said.

Sources acknowledged that any critical reference by UNHRC to J&K may have a bearing on India’s narrative at the UNGA meet.

Meanwhile, India is quite sure that Pakistan would not go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on J&K despite pronouncements made by its Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi because a single party cannot go to the Hague-based Court directly.