Pakistan hit back strongly at India on Thursday, after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called Jammu and Kashmir an "Indian State" and went on to accuse Islamabad of abetting terrorism. "India's attempts to deny its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir are a travesty of history," Pakistani delegate Bilal Ahmad told the UN General Assembly, while speaking in right of reply.
To perpetuate its occupation, he said, "India has deployed over seven hundred thousand security forces in occupied Kashmir. Only the occupier would oppose the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions that promised self-determination to the people of the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir." Bilal Ahmad, a counsellor at the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, said that over 100,000 Kashmiris have been killed, thousands of women widowed and raped, and children orphaned by this brutal occupation and the most egregious form of state terrorism by India, while pointing out that independent human rights organizations have confirmed the existence of over 6000 unnamed mass graves in occupied Kashmir.
The Pakistani delegate called on India to withdraw its troops and let the Kashmiris decide their own fate in line with relevant Security Council Resolutions. The issue could not be cast aside by empty rhetoric; it would always be on top of the list of any discussions between India and Pakistan. It was therefore disingenuous for India to ignore the issue; while proclaiming its willingness to talk, it had imposed preconditions it knew would never be acceptable to Pakistan.
While proclaiming its willingness to talk, he said, India has imposed pre-conditions, knowing that these would be unacceptable to Pakistan. "India's insistence on limiting the talks to a one point agenda proves that it is neither interested nor serious in engaging in a genuine dialogue," Bilal Ahmed told the 193-meber Assembly.
Pakistan's commitment and its role and sacrifice in the fight against terrorism, including the success of our ongoing counter-terrorism operations, have been acknowledged and praised by the entire international community, he said. The entire world is also united in unequivocally condemning terrorism, except India, the Pakistani delegate pointed out. Bilal Ahmad accused India of failing to bring to justice perpetrators of terrorism against civilians in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings.
He also said that Pakistan had handed over dossiers to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon containing evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism in the country and links of its security agencies with the Tehreek-e-Taliban in Federally Administered Tribal Areas. "The dossiers include details of Indian interference and support for terrorism in Balochistan and Karachi as well as its security and intelligence agencies link with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan especially in FATA," he said.
Comments
Comments are closed.