‘UN-listed terrorists roaming the streets of neighouring country’
United Nations: India on Thursday called Pakistan a “terrorist state” and accused it of carrying out “war crimes” against Indians through its “long-standing policy” of sponsoring terrorism, hours after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif raked up Kashmir issue at the UN General Assembly session.
In a strong rebuttal, India said the terrorists designated by the UN continued to roam Pakistan’s streets freely and operate with State support.
Exercising India’s Right of Reply to Sharif’s “long tirade” about the situation in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Eenam Gambhir said “the worst violation of human rights is terrorism.” “When practised as an instrument of state policy it is a war crime. What my country and our other neighbours are facing today is Pakistan’s long-standing policy of sponsoring terrorism, the consequences of which have spread well beyond our region,” she said.
Gambhir said India sees in Pakistan “a terrorist state” which channelises billions of dollars, much of it diverted from international aid, to training, financing and supporting terrorist groups as militant proxies against it neighbours.
In a reference to JeM chief Masood Azhar and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, she said terrorist entities and their leaders, including many designated by the UN, continue to roam the streets of Pakistan freely and operate with State’s support. “With the approval of authorities, many terrorist organisations raise funds openly in flagrant violation of Pakistan’s international obligations,” Gambhir said.
She said while Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation record is marked by “deception and deceit,” it talks about restraint, renunciation and peace. “Similar false promises it has made to us – the international community – on terrorism. Perhaps renunciation of lies and self-restraint on threats could be a good place for Pakistan to start,” Gambhir said.
India also strongly slammed Sharif for glorifying Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani, who was killed on July 8 by the Indian forces. “Even today we have heard support by the Prime Minister of Pakistan for a self-acknowledged commander of a known terrorist organisation,” she said.
Gambhir said Pakistan was a democracy deficit country and practises terrorism on its own people. “It extends support to extremist groups, it suppresses minorities and women and denies basic human rights including through draconian laws,” she added.
Gambhir voiced India’s firm resolve to protect all its citizens from all acts of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. “We cannot and will not allow terrorism to prevail,” she said.
Gambhir reminded the UN that the trail of the most “horrifying” and “dastardly terror attack” of 9/11 led all the way to Abbottabad in Pakistan, where Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been hiding for years and was killed by US forces.
She also noted that the land of Taxila, one of the greatest learning centres of ancient times, “is now host to the Ivy League of terrorism” and attracts aspirants and apprentices from all over the world. “The effect of its toxic curriculum are felt across the globe,” she said, adding that it is ironical that a country which has established itself as the global epicentre of terrorism, is preaching human rights and talks about the ostensible support for self-determination.
She also told the UN General Assembly that shortly before Pakistan gave its “hypocritical sermons” in the world body, its envoy in New Delhi was summoned in the context of the most recent of the terror attacks in Uri that claimed 18 Indian lives. “That terrorist attack is part of a trail of continuous flow of terrorists trained and armed by our neighbour and tasked to carry out terrorist attacks in my country,” she said.
Sharif raised the Kashmir issue with almost every world leader – including those from the US, the UK, Japan and Turkey – on Wednesday. He sought their intervention to resolve the matter.
Pakistan’s representative, exercising the Right of Reply to India’s response, said the Indian government has chosen to “criticise” Sharif’s statement, which “reflects the sentiments and aspirations of the oppressed people” of Jammu and Kashmir. “The dispute of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be wished away,” he said, adding Pakistan will continue to stand by the people of Kashmir and extend its “full diplomatic and political support” to their movement for freedom from “Indian oppression”.
Again referring to the “cold-blooded murder” of militant Wani, he said it sparked protests across Kashmir in an “irrefutable evidence” of the Kashmiri people’s rejection of “Indian occupation”.
He said the right to self determination has been “promised” to the people of Kashmir by the international community through a series of Security Council resolutions. “Although this promise has yet to be realised seven decades later, time has not weakened their resolve,” he said, adding that the people of Kashmir look towards the international community, particularly the members of the UNSC, to deliver on the pledge to hold free and impartial plebiscite to enable them to decide their future. “This is the democratic and legal right of the Kashmiri people,” he said, adding that “no amount of verbiage” used by Indian delegation can “obfuscate” this reality. (PTI)