At UN, Pakistan labels India ‘sponsor of terrorism’, rejects cross-border infiltration claims

A Pakistani diplomat told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that India is sponsor of terrorism that has led to the killing of thousands of people, and rejected as “baseless” New Delhi’s charges of Pakistan’s involvement in the menace.

“The baseless assertion regarding terrorism is in fact an effort by India to conceal its sponsorship and financing of terrorism against Pakistan,” Ansar Shah, a first secretary in the Pakistan Mission to the UN, said while exercising his right of reply to the Indian Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni’s accusations of cross-border terrorism.

Ambassador Harish was reacting to an earlier statement in the debate on ‘Natural Resources Governance’ from his Pakistani counterpart, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, who blamed India of weaponising water against Pakistan by abusing its status as the upper riparian, “unilaterally and illegally”, placing the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in “abeyance”.

Ambassador Asim said such a course of action was neither provided by the Treaty, nor the general principles of international law and  was “unlawful” that threatens the livelihoods and well-being of more than 240 million people of Pakistan.

“That this is happening in the backdrop of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute, a longstanding flash point in South Asia, carries grave risks for international peace and security,” the Pakistani envoy added.

To this, the Indian ambassador said, “Our position on the Indus Water Treaty remains clear and consistent. Cooperation on the basis of mutual trust and goodwill cannot be expected when cross-border terrorism is regularly deployed as an instrument of state policy.”

The Indian ambassador also claimed that Jammu and Kashmir was an “integral part” of India.

Reacting to India’s statement, Ansar said that the Indus Waters Treaty contains no provision permitting “abeyance”, calling New Delhi’s action “simply illegal”.

The Court of Arbitration had reaffirmed that the Treaty remains valid, binding and fully in force, together with its dispute settlement mechanisms. India’s weaponization of a shared natural resource for political coercion,  was a serious breach of legal instruments and international norms, he said.

The situation poses a direct threat to regional and international peace and security and is completely germane to today’s debate,” the Pakistani diplomat said.

As regards the terrorism charge, the Pakistani delegate said India’s terrorist proxies — the TTP, BLA and its Majeed Brigade – have killed thousands of civilians and law enforcement personnel, including women and children on the country’s soil.

“India’s involvement in extraterritorial executions including in North America is also well known,” Ansar noted.

India, he said, was also a perpetrator of state terrorism, including in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, whose population is being denied its right to self-determination in gross violation of numerous resolutions of the Security Council.

“Jammu and Kashmir never was, nor is, an integral part of India. No unilateral or unlawful measures by the occupying power can alter the historical, legal and disputed character of the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” the Pakistani delegate said.

“India must fulfill all its legal obligations under international law, UN Charter, and Security Council resolutions – instead of violating them and denying established facts.”