“It is India that has long been a sponsor and practitioner of state terrorism,” Ambassador Lodhi told the UN General Assembly.
She debunked Swaraj’s claim about Kashmir, saying it is an internationally recognised disputed territory.
“Jammu and Kashmir never was and can never be an integral part of India,” the Pakistani envoy said in a hard-hitting statement.
Must Read: ‘Kashmir not integral part of India’ Pakistan reminds Swaraj
Ambassador Lodhi also took exception to the raising of Balochistan issue by the Indian External Affairs Minister, saying it was a “blatant violation” of the principles of the UN Charter.
Lodhi described Indian call to isolate Pakistan as “delusional”, saying, “It is India itself, which because of its war crimes in Kashmir and elsewhere, and because of its warmongering, is likely to be isolated in the international community.”
“Over the course of the last half century, India has sponsored and perpetrated terrorism and aggression against all its neighbours; creating terrorist groups; destabilising and blockading neighbours to do its strategic bidding and sponsoring subversion, sabotage and terrorism in various parts of Pakistan,” the Pakistani ambassador added.
In fact, Ambassador Lodhi continued that Swaraj’s statement, containing a series of allegations against Pakistan, was a “litany of falsehoods about Pakistan and a travesty of facts and history”.
Also Read: Pakistan, India have to hold talks for normalising bilateral ties, says US
“We reject all the baseless allegations made in that statement,” the Pakistani envoy maintained strongly.
“These allegations are designed principally to deflect global attention from the brutalities being perpetrated by India’s over half a million occupation force against innocent and unarmed Kashmiri children, women and men in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” she said
“Kashmiri people call for freedom has been met with characteristic Indian brutality,” Ambassador Lodhi said.
“This is the worst form of state terrorism, a war crime, that India has continued to perpetrate in the situation of foreign occupation in Jammu and Kashmir for the past many decades,” she told the 193-member Assembly.
Pakistan, she said, demanded a full and impartial investigation of Indian atrocities and human rights violations in Kashmir.
“We ask that India accepts the investigation proposed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and allow them access for the purpose.”
The ambassador said the attack on the Indian Army base in Uri, particularly its timing, has all the hallmarks of an operation designed to divert attention from India’s atrocities in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
“India is utilising the Uri incident to blame Pakistan for the current Kashmiri uprising and divert attention from its brutal occupation.”
“The recently captured Indian spy, an intelligence officer, Kulbhushan Yadav, has confessed to India’s support to such terrorist and subversive activities particularly in Balochistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Indeed, it was Kulbhushan, who was financing, arming and supporting individuals and entities listed under the UN sanctions regime,” she added.
Instead of aiming to destabilise Pakistan, she said India would do well to address its own vast internal problems and the dozen or so insurgencies going on in its own country.
“For the Indian External Affairs minister to claim that her country has imposed no pre-conditions for talks with Pakistan is another falsehood. India suspended talks more than a year ago and has refused to resume them despite repeated offers from Pakistan and advice from the international community. The latest offer was made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan from the rostrum of this very Assembly,” she said.
“But let us be clear, talks are no favour to Pakistan. They are in the interest of both India and Pakistan and the people of our two countries.”
