Pakistan calls India mother of terrorism as South Asian rivals clash at UN

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dr. Maleeha Lodhi accused India of being the “mother of terrorism” in South Asia as she cited several examples of New Delhi’s fueling and backing terror.

Dr. Lodhi was responding to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s sweeping allegations that Pakistan backed terror in a speech to the UN General Assembly session in New York.

The Pakistani envoy said New Delhi uses terrorism as a state policy.

Swaraj had earlier claimed that “Pakistan is recognized only as the pre-eminent export factory for terror.”

But Lodhi fired back at the Indian claims, accusing Swaraj of “indulging in an orgy of slander against Pakistan.”

As Swaraj spoke groups of Kashmiri and Sikh demonstrators protested outside the UN Headquarters, calling it an offender of human rights that suppresses dissent with brutal state terror. Human rights organizations have documented serious human rights violations in Indian-controlled Kashmir since the start of a new uprising as people demand freedom in accordance with UN resolutions.

“Her comments towards my country betray the hostility that the Indian leadership has towards Pakistan —the hostility we have endured for 70 years,” Ambassador Lodhi told the 72nd UNGA.

“Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav has confessed of committing terrorism in Pakistan,” Lodhi said.

“Repeating falsehoods year after year does not and cannot conceal or alter the truth. But in her vitriol she deliberately ignored the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Dr. Lodhi emphatically told the General Assembly that Jammu and Kashmir was not a part of India and was recognized by the United Nations and the international community as ‘disputed” territory’.

“I invite all of you, and the Indian FM, to look at the UN maps,” she said.

Islamabad’s Permanent Representative said that India’s military occupation of the State was illegal as the UN Security Council had, in over a dozen resolutions, decided that the dispute must be resolved by enabling the people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine their own destiny through a UN-supervised plebiscite.

India has been levelling allegations against Pakistan to divert international attention from the brutalities of Indian forces in held Kashmir, she noted.

Lodhi said the crimes against humanity in held Kashmir should be investigated.

The Pakistani diplomat also asked the international community to stop India from ceasefire violations on the Line of Control.
Pakistan, she said, wants a resolution of all outstanding issues through talks but told the gathering that India will have to give up its policy of terrorism.

Drawing international attention to New Delhi’s killing spree in the disputed Kashmir territory, Lodhi said that India’s brutal occupation of Kashmir has killed over 100,000 innocent Kashmiris.

Although India had launched a campaign of brutality inside Kashmir — including the shooting and blinding of innocent Kashmiri children with pellet guns — and yet had failed to subdue these Kashmiri children, women and youth who came out on the streets almost daily to demand that India get out of occupied Kashmir.

“India cannot hide behind semantics. Any interstate dispute, like Kashmir, is by definition an ‘international’ dispute. If the parties fail to resolve a dispute, the UN and the international community has not only the right but the obligation to intervene and help to resolve the dispute,” she said.

She asked India to shun the policy of terrorism and supporting terrorism in Pakistan for a fruitful dialogue.

Dr. Lodhi also called out India for Swaraj’s suggestion that Pakistan was avoiding bilateral talks with India.

“India now also refuses a bilateral dialogue with Pakistan, either composite or comprehensive. The conditions it poses – that first there be an end of violence — begs the question. Violence emanates, first and foremost, from India’s occupation and brutal suppression of the Kashmiri people,” she maintained.

The ambassador also charged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being involved in the killing of Muslims in Gujrat. Hands of several leaders of the ruling party in India are stained with the blood of innocent people, she added.
Swaraj ealier made sweeping claims in her remarks.

“Why is it today India is a recognizd IT superpower in the world, and Pakistan is recognized only as the pre-eminent export factory for terror?” Sushma Swaraj told the General Assembly. “We produced scholars, doctors, engineers. What have you produced? You have produced terrorists.”

Pakistan has rejected Indian allegations that it backs terrorist attacks in India.
Islamabad has also been telling the world that India finances and fuels 0 groups operating against the Pakistani state in Balochistan and Karachi,.

Meanwhile, India has been vocal in its opposition to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $ 50 billion development and infrastructure project.

Last year Pakistan accused eight Indian ‘undercover operatives’ posted as diplomats in Islamabad of indulging in kicking up violence and unrest in the country.