Pakistan is 'Terroristan': How India replied to Pak PM's attack in UN General Assembly
Pakistan has earned a new epithet - Terroristan - in an angry response by India to a speech by the Islamic republic's prime minister in the UN General Assembly.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who took oath as Pakistan's 18th prime minister last month, called for a special envoy to Kashmir in his maiden address to the UN General Assembly yesterday (September 21). He claimed that the struggle of the people in the region (Kashmir) is being “brutally suppressed” by India.
Interestingly, Abbasi, who still considers ousted leader Nawaz Sharif as the "real prime minister of Pakistan" (he called Sharif that in his inaugural speech last month) and is sure that he will return to the seat, is the interim choice for PM until a "permanent" replacement could be elected.
It is not a secret that Abbasi has to eventually give way to Shahbaz Sharif, who is likely to compete for the National Assembly. But since Punjab is believed to be too big a seat of power for the Sharif family to "relinquish" (Shahbaz would have to relinquish his CM throne in Punjab), for the moment, it's Abbasi and his tirade that India has to counter.
So, in a much familiar back-and-forth war of words, India's first secretary to the UN, Eenam Gambhir, on Thursday said: "Pakistan is now Terroristan with a flourishing industry producing and exporting global terrorism."
Although India was exercising its right of reply after Abbasi's Thursday's belligerent speech, this kind of exchange is not new for either India or Pakistan. Both sides, including their governments, the military and the media, have been coining similar sobriquets.
This is how the latest word of words broke out:
Pakistan (Abbasi):
"As in the past, today the Kashmiri people are waging a heroic and popular struggle to rid themselves of India’s oppressive rule. They come out in the streets daily to call on India to leave Kashmir.
India has responded with massive and indiscriminate force to suppress the Kashmiris, shooting indiscriminately at children, women and youth. Hundreds of innocent Kashmiris have been killed or injured. Shotgun pellets have blinded and maimed thousands of Kashmiris including children. These and other brutalities clearly constitute war crimes and violate the Geneva Conventions.
Pakistan demands an international investigation into India’s crimes in Kashmir."
India (Gambhir)
"Even as terrorists thrive in Pakistan and roam its streets with impunity, we have heard it lecture about the protection of human rights in India. The world does not need lessons on democracy and human rights from a country whose own situation is charitably described as a failed state.
...In so far as India is concerned, Pakistan must understand that the state of Jammu and Kashmir is and will always remain an integral part of India. However much its scales up cross-border terrorism, it will never succeed in undermining India’s territorial integrity."
Pakistan:
"...India frequently violates the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Kashmir. Despite over 600 violations since January this year Pakistan has acted with restraint. But if India does venture across the LoC, or acts upon its doctrine of “limited” war against Pakistan, it will evoke a strong and matching response."
India:
"It is extraordinary that the state which protected Osama bin Laden and sheltered Mullah Omar should have the gumption to play the victim.
By now, all Pakistan’s neighbours are painfully familiar with these tactics to create a narrative based on distortions, deception and deceit. This august Assembly and the world beyond know that efforts at creating alternative facts do not change reality.
In its short history, Pakistan has become a geography synonymous with terror. The quest for a land of pure has actually produced “the land of pure terror”. Pakistan is now ''Terroristan', with a flourishing industry producing and exporting global terrorism."
Pakistan:
"Let me reiterate, Pakistan remains open to resuming a comprehensive dialogue with India to address all outstanding issues, especially Kashmir and discuss measures to maintain peace and security. This dialogue must be accompanied by an end to India’s campaign of subversion and state sponsored terrorism against Pakistan, including from across our western border."
India:
"Its current state can be gauged from the fact that Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, a leader of the UN designated terrorist organization Lashkar-i-Taiba, is now sought to be legitimized as a leader of a political party.
This is a country whose counter terrorism policy is to mainstream and upstream terrorists by either providing safe havens to global terror leaders in its military town, or protecting them with political careers.
None of this can justify Pakistan’s avaricious efforts to covet the territories of its neighbours.
...Pakistan can only be counselled to abandon a destructive worldview that has caused grief to the entire world. If it could be persuaded to demonstrate any commitment to civilisation, order, and to peace, it may still find some acceptance in the comity of nations."
Incidentally, Pakistan has also been raising the issue using the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Last week, India had hit out at the OIC for its statements on the issue that were cited by Pakistan at a UN human rights congress in Geneva. India had said it "strongly advises the OIC to refrain from making such references in the future".
Meanwhile, Pakistan's all-weather ally China has reiterated its stand that the Kashmir issue was for India and Pakistan to solve. According to this India Today report, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said: "China's position on the Kashmir issue is clear-cut."
"The Kashmir issue is an issue leftover from history. China hopes India and Pakistan can increase dialogue and communication, and properly handle relevant issues and jointly safeguard peace and stability," he said when asked about the OIC's backing to Pakistan's calls for UN involvement.