UNITED NATIONS: Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has repeated its accusations of Pakistan’s complicity in cross-border terrorism, citing Uri and Pathankot, and asserted that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, a claim immediately rejected by the Pakistani envoy to the UN.
Speaking in the UN General Assembly on Monday, she completely glossed over the atrocities being committed by Indian occupation troops in Kashmir and instead referred to the so-called Balochistan issue. She also claimed that the disputed state was an “integral part of India.”
Outside the UN General Assembly, hundreds of Kashmiris and Pakistanis staged a big demonstration denouncing Indian repression and calling on the United Nations to implement its resolutions on Kashmir.
More than 100 Kashmiri people have been killed, thousands injured and 150 people blinded by the use of deadly gun pellet by Indian security forces.
Asked for comments, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi called the Indian external affairs minister’s speech a “litany of falsehoods and baseless allegations,” saying that Kashmir was an internationally recognized dispute. “In fact, it is the oldest item on the UN agenda.”
“Another falsehood she uttered was that there are no human rights violations in Kashmir,” the Pakistani envoy noted. “The whole world knows the barbaric actions being taken by occupation forces that are a grave violation of human rights. These are amply documented.”
Ambassador Lodhi said by raising Balochistan, Ms Swaraj had “blatantly” violated the principles the principles of the United Nations Charter and international norms, as it was an “internal matter” of Pakistan.
The Pakistani envoy also said that India was using the Uri incident to blame Pakistan for the ongoing Kashmiri uprising and divert attention from its brutal occupation.
In her speech, Ms. Swaraj claimed that India had not attached any pre-conditions for talks with Pakistan, saying, “We took the initiative to resolve issues not on the basis of conditions, but on the basis of friendship!”
In response, Ambassador Lodhi said, “For the Indian external affairs minister to claim that her country has imposed no preconditions for talks with Pakistan is another flight from reality. India suspended talks more than a year ago, and has refused to resume these despite repeated offers from Pakistan; the latest one made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan himself from the rostrum of the General Assembly on September 21. “Her entire reference to Pakistan was a vain attempt to divert attention from the grave situation in occupied Kashmir.” —APP