The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday castigated Pakistan for raising the matter of Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations Security Council through China.

“An effort was made by Pakistan through a member of UNSC to once again misuse the platform,” foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a press conference. “The overwhelming majority of UNSC were of view that UNSC was not the right forum was such issues and that this should be discussed bilaterally between India and Pakistan.”

He said the informal closed-door meeting concluded without any outcome. “In our view, it once again highlighted that Pakistan’s desperate measures to peddle baseless allegations and present an alarming scenario lacked credibility,” Kumar added.

The spokesperson hoped that a “loud and clear message” was given to Pakistan to resolve matters bilaterally. “Pakistan has a choice to avoid this global embarrassment time and again by refraining from such acts in the future,” Kumar said.

The foreign ministry added that China should “seriously reflect on the global consensus, draw the proper lessons, and refrain from taking such actions”.

Kumar said Pakistan will be invited to India to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation heads of government meeting this year. All eight members and four observer states of SCO will be invited for the regional summit, he added.

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The Security Council meeting on Wednesday was convened to discuss the situation in Mali, but China made a request to discuss Kashmir under the agenda of “any other business points”. Apart from China, four other permanent members of the Security Council – France, Russia, United States and United Kingdom – took part in the discussion.

The attempt failed as other countries of the 15-member council maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan.

However, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed the UN Security Council meeting on Kashmir, saying that the matter was an internationally recognised dispute that remains on the agenda of the international body. “Its consideration by the council reflects a recognition of the seriousness of the prevailing situation,” he tweeted.

“Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be resolved in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the will of the Kashmiri people,” he added. “ We will continue to provide moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people until they secure their inalienable right to self-determination.”

This was the second time in five months that Kashmir was discussed at the Security Council after the Indian administration amended Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the state’s special status in August last year.

India’s envoy at the world body, Syed Akbaruddin, had said Pakistan’s practice of using false pretenses to distract from addressing the malaise that afflicts it found no credibility.

Chinese UN Ambassador Zhang Jun had told reporters after the meeting that Beijing was “concerned about the situation on the ground” in Kashmir. “I’m sure the meeting will be a help in both parties to understand the risk of further escalation and encourage them to approach to each other and to have dialogue and to seek means to seek solutions through dialogue,” Zhang added.