India's Syed Akbaruddin corrects misinformed Pakistan on its own dues

Slamming Pakistan's Ambassador to Jordan Shafaat Shah for spreading misinformation about India, Syed Akbaruddin- India's permanent UN representative, on Saturday has set the record straight on India's payment to the United Nations. Earlier on Friday, Akbaruddin had tweeted that India was one of the 35 countries of the 193 member states which had paid all dues to the United Nations till date.

India's dues paid

READ |India among 34 UN member states to pay budget dues in full & on time

Pakistan counters India's payment claims 

He was immediately countered by Pakistani Ambassador - Retd. General Shafaat Shah who stated that India must judge its own credibility. He stated that the official UN site showed that 129 countries have paid dues which includes Pakistan.

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India sets the record straight

Akbaruddin then pointed out to Pakistan that the report pointed by the Ambassador was displaying the Regular Budget payments as opposed to all payments. He rebuked Pakistan for taking a free pass in the issue by delaying payments to the UN. He further reiterated that only 35 states have paid all dues till date.

He also tweeted to the former general stating that he was repeating the same mistake made by another Pakistani general. He further stated that generals straying into diplomacy leads to repeating errors.

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India pays all dues to UN

Earlier on October 10, it was reported that  India had paid 23.25 million dollars in regular budget assessments by January 31, 2019, the 30-day due period specified as per UN's Financial Regulation rules. Only 33 other nations paid their regular budget assessments in full within this 30-day due period. Subsequent to the end of the 30-day due period (January 31), 95 additional member states paid their 2019 regular budget assessment in full.

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Other nations' payment status 

However, 64 states are yet to pay their regular budget dues in full for 2019. These include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Central African Republic, North Korea, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Oman, the Philippines, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, the US, and Venezuela. While India has been among the few countries to have fully paid its dues to the UN on time, the UN owed India USD 38 million, among the highest it has to pay to any country, for peacekeeping operations as of March 2019. The UN is facing a severe liquidity crisis, reaching its deepest deficit of the decade, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said, warning that the world organisation will not have enough cash by next month to cover payrolls.