At UN, India blasts Pak over Kashmir
Delhi: Islamabad ‘ covets territory of others’
With Pakistan launching a tirade against India on the Kashmir situation at the United Nations on Wednesday, India hit back with all its might and reminded it of its dubious record in providing a safe haven for terrorists.
Launching a broadside, New Delhi accused Islamabad of “extolling the virtues of terrorists, providing sanctuary to UNdesignated terrorists and coveting the territory of others”, even as the ministry of external affairs said Pakistan has been “fomenting discontent” in the Valley by lending support to terrorists besides infiltrating terrorists and “using terrorism as an instrument of state policy”.
At the UN, where there was a full- blown diplomatic war between the two neighbours, India accused Pakistan of “misusing the UN platform” to raise the Kashmir issue. India’s ambassador to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, delivered a hard- hitting statement after provocative remarks by Pakistan’s envoy Maleeha Lodhi on Kashmir and Hizul Mujahideen poster boy Burhan Wani’s killing during a debate on human rights in the General Assembly in New York Wednesday. In her statement, Ms Lodhi called Wani’s killing extra- judicial.
But New Delhi was swift to respond. The Indian envoy to the UN said, “Regrettably, earlier today we have seen an attempt at misuse of this UN platform. The attempt came from Pakistan; a country that covets the territory of others; a country that uses terrorism as state policy towards that misguided end; a country that extols
Continued from Page 1 the virtues of terrorists and that provides sanctuary to UN- designated terrorists; and a country that masquerades its efforts as support for human rights and self- determination. Pakistan is the same country whose track record has failed to convince the international community to gain membership of the Human Rights Council in this very session of the UNGA. The international community has long seen through such designs. Cynical attempts, like the one this morning therefore, find no resonance in this forum or elsewhere in the United Nations.”
In New Delhi, terming Pakistan’s continued effort to internationalise the Kashmir issue as “a selfserving exercise towards a narrow political end”, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup reiterated what Mr Akbaruddin had said. “Terrorism is terrorism and no amount of justification on the part of Pakistan is going to change that,” he said. Asked if there was a shift in the Pakistan strategy vis- à- vis Kashmir, where there seems to be an increase in the number of “homegrown militants”, Mr Swarup said, “It is part of the continued strategy of Pakistan of not only infiltrating terrorists from across the border but also fanning discontent within the Valley by providing support to terrorist outfits.” Asserting that the Wani issue was internal to India, he said that Pakistan has no locus standi in the matter and asked it to refrain from interfering. Referring to the summoning of the Indian envoy by the Pakistan foreign office to raise the Kashmir situation, Mr Swarup said the envoy conveyed that it was an internal matter. He also said India rejected the demarche issued to him. The MEA also made it clear that it has no plans of summoning Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit since there is “no reason to involve Pakistan”.
Asked if apart from Pakistan, any other Muslim country has raised the Kashmir situation with India, he said there has been a statement by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in this regard. “No locus standi and we don’t need any gratis advice from anyone,” he retorted.