At UN, Pakistan counters India’s terror accusations by exposing its covert operations in a verbal duel

UNITED NATIONS, May 27 (APP): Pakistan hit back at India for accusing Islamabad of cross-border terrorism, asserting that in fact New Delhi orchestrates acts of terrorism abroad but that its covert operations leave an undeniable trail of evidence.

 “Kulbhushan Jadhav (the Indian spy) remains a living evidence of India’s covert operations inside Pakistan,” Saima Saleem, a counsellor at the Pakistan Mission, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

The Pakistani delegate was exercising his right of reply to India’s UN Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, who accused Pakistan of continued sponsorship of cross-border terrorism in violation of the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Indian envoy was reacting to a statement made earlier in day by Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minster and Foreign Minister,Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, who raised the unresolved issue of Jammu and Kashmir dispute to highlight India’s violation of the UN Security Council resolutions upholding the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.

The exchange between India and Pakistan took place during the debate on “Upholding the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter and Strengthening the UN-Centred International System”.

In her remarks, Ms. Saleem, the Pakistani delegate, said that Kashmir is not India’s internal matter, but an internationally recognized dispute on the agenda of this Council brought by India itself.

“By refusing to implement Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir, India defies the UN Charter, including Article 25, which obliges Member States to accept and carry out the decisions of this Council,” she said, adding India’s “reckless” attempt to hold the1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance reveals yet another dangerous disregard for international law.

“With regard to terrorism,” Ms. Saleem added, “India may export violence abroad through state-sponsored terrorism — from terrorist proxies to extra-judicial assassinations — but it cannot hide its fingerprints in the country of origin.”

The Pakistani delegate said the recent Quetta train bombing, whose responsibility was claimed by BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army) once again showed the human cost of Indian-sponsored terrorism: killing and injuring numerous Pakistani nationals, including innocent men, women and children who were on their way to celebrate Eid with their loved ones.

At home, she said, India’s Hindutva project against more than 200 million Muslims is being carried out through genocidal acts, with ‘Genocide’ Watch warning of the risk of genocide against Muslims in India. The signs are visible to the international community: pogroms of Muslims in Gujrat and Dehli, lynchings by cow vigilantes, mob violence, demolition of mosques and homes of Muslims, discriminatory laws, and Islamophobic rhetoric against Muslims by Hindutva zealots and politicians. Muslims are not the only victims:  Sikhs are disenfranchised, Dalits are dehumanized, and Christians are persecuted in the largest hypocrisy of the world.

“History will remember the difference: peace is built by those who honour the Charter in conduct, not by those who invoke it in words while violating it in practice,” Ms. Saleem added.