WASHINGTON: Replying to Nawaz Sharif‘s statement at the General Debate of 71st UNGA, India‘s First Secretary Eenam Gambhir (Follow her on Twitter @ Eenam Gambhir @eenamg) directly took on Pakistan calling it a terrorist state and a global epicenter of terrorism.
“The worst violation of human rights is terrorism. When practiced as an instrument of state policy it is a war crime,” said Gambir in India’s right of reply to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s speech, in which he had raised the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Gambhir’s response to what she described as Pakistan’s “long tirade” about the situation in J and K, expressed earlier in a speech by the country’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was short, furious, and unprecedented in its intensity and descriptions.
It also indicated a new Indian resolve to have Pakistan formally designated a nuclear proliferating terrorist state based on Islamabad’s use of terrorism as state policy and evidence of its nurturing of terror groups.
Reminding the UN of how so many terrorist attacks, including that on 9/11 in U.S., led to Pakistan, she said, “The land of Taxila, one of the greatest learning centres of ancient times, is now host to the Ivy League of terrorism.” There was a specific reference to the hunt for Osama bin Laden leading to Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he was found and killed next to a Pakistan military garrison. Several other major terrorists including Mullah Omar, Ramzi Yousef, and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, not to speak of numerous foot soldiers, including last week’s New York bomber, have found refuge and inspiration in Pakistan.
“It attracts aspirants and apprentices from all over the world. The effect of its toxic curriculum are felt across the globe,” Gambhir explained, as India for the first time brought to the world’s attention the fallout of Pakistan’s nurturing of terrorist groups that the U.N itself has recorded and proscribed.
“It is ironical therefore that we have seen today the preaching of human rights and ostensible support for self-determination by a country which has established itself as the global epicentre of terrorism,” she added in a reference to Sharif’s remarks on Jammu and Kashmir.
More humiliation followed as Gambhir also raised the issue of the international aid to Pakistan being diverted for terrorism, raising the possibility that New Delhi will now begin a campaign to cut off assistance on which Islamabad subsists.
IMF Chief Christine Lagarde is expected to go to Pakistan shortly in what will be the first visit by a top executive in a decade as Pakistan’s economy spirals down.
“What we see in Pakistan, Mr. President, is a terrorist state, which channelizes billions of dollars, much of it diverted from international aid, to training, financing and supporting terrorist groups as militant proxies against it neighbors,” the Indian Rep told the UN, many of whose members give aid that enables Pakistan to survive.
“Terrorist entities and their leaders, including many designated by the UN, continue to roam its streets freely and operate with State support. With the approval of authorities, many terrorist organizations raise funds openly in flagrant violation of Pakistan’s international obligations,” Gambhir told them.
India also took aim at the internal tensions in Pakistan, calling it a “country with a democracy deficit.”
“In fact it practices 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,” Gambhir told UN delegates, in what is just a warm-up to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj‘s speech expected later in the week.
In one short sentence, the Indian representative told the U.N, including many OIC and Arab monarchies and dictatorships that profess support to Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, but are also victims of terrorism: “As a democracy India is firmly resolved to protect all our citizens from all acts of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. We cannot and will not allow terrorism to prevail.”
She also reminded them that India’s (and Pakistan’s) neighbors (which include Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Iran) suffer the consequence of Pakistan’s state-sponsored terrorism, even as its consequence had spread well beyond the region.
Terrorists inspired, facilitated, and trained in Pakistan have struck throughout the world, including in New York, London, San Bernardino, and Brussels, among other cities.
The Indian representative also ridiculed Sharif’s talk of nuclear restraint and peace, reminding the U.N that Pakistan’s “nuclear proliferation record is marked by deception and deceit.”
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