UNITED NATIONS: A Pakistani diplomat hit back at the Indian External Affairs Minister’s speech in the UN General Assembly on Saturday that depicted Pakistan as a promoter of terrorism, saying it was well documented that India was not only committing state terrorism in occupied Kashmir but also abroad.
“It is most ironic that India, which is committing the worst form of state terrorism in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir while also actively engaging in sponsoring terrorism abroad, is portraying itself as the victim,” Pakistani diplomat Muhammad Faheem told the 193-member Assembly.
Earlier in the day, S. Jaishankar, the Indian minister, protested against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raising the Kashmir dispute in the General Assembly and went on to accuse Islamabad of pursuing a policy of cross-border terrorism.
“It is a familiar ploy of all occupiers and colonizers to paint legitimate struggles for freedom and liberation as terrorism.
India is failing to grasp the enormity of the indigenous Kashmiri resistance against its stranglehold and wrongly blaming it on cross-border terrorism,” Faheem, a third secretary at the Pakistan Mission to the UN, said while exercising his right of reply.
“India must introspect, reflect, and immediately implement the Security Council resolutions that provide for the Kashmiris to exercise their right to self-determination,” he said, and called for holding India accountable for its actions that violate international law.
Highlighting that India finances terrorism against Pakistan using its proxies, the Pakistani delegate said that New Delhi’s campaign to damage and destroy Pakistan’s economy was no secret, including by impeding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through the sponsorship of terrorist groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Majeed Brigade.
“India is also supporting terrorism in the Balochistan province of Pakistan,” he added. “India’s assassination campaign against its dissidents residing overseas has been exposed in Canada and the United States, while its leaders publicly boast of murdering their citizens abroad.”
“India seeks expansion of territory through unilateral measures to consolidate its occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and crass threats to cross the Line of Control (LOC) to take over the liberated territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK),” Faheem said, referring to the Indian minister’s remark that Pakistan was ‘coveting the lands of others’.
Pointing out that India’s military build-up in nuclear and conventional weapons was mainly deployed against Pakistan, Faheem said, “India is pursuing highly dangerous war fighting doctrines to engage in a conventional military confrontation with Pakistan under the nuclear overhang.
He said, “Despite the humiliation suffered by India during its last ill-advised military adventurism against Pakistan—in February 2019—with two fighter jets lost and a captured pilot who was released by Pakistan after Indian pleas.”
“India’s quest for regional hegemony is not limited to posturing against Pakistan only but is also evident by its meddling in the internal affairs of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives,” the Pakistani diplomat said.
In this context, he called for reining in India, whose hubris and grandiose perceptions coupled with its fast-growing aggressive military were a clear danger for international and regional peace and security.
“India must be held accountable for its violations of international law in occupied Jammu and Kashmir; for state terrorism in the occupied territory; and for sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan.,” Faheem added.
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