UNITED NATIONS (APP): India has protested against Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raising the Kashmir dispute in his address to the UN General Assembly on Friday, and went on to accuse Islamabad of pursuing a policy of cross-border terrorism.
“Let me make India’s position very clear – Pakistan’s policy of cross-border terrorism will never succeed. And it can have no expectation of impunity. On the contrary, actions will certainly have consequences.” Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar warned in his speech to the 193-member Assembly’s 79th session.
Pakistan, which has repeatedly debunked the Indian charges, is set to exercise its right of reply to the Indian minister’s provocative statement tonight when the day’s speakers finish their speeches. On its part, Pakistan has been saying that it is a victim of terrorism sponsored by India.
In his remarks, the Indian external affairs minister said, “Many countries get left behind due to circumstances beyond their control, but some make conscious choices with disastrous consequences. A premier example is our neighbour, Pakistan.
“When this polity instills such fanaticism among its people, its GDP can only be measured in terms of radicalization and its exports in the form of terrorism,
“Today we see the ills it sought to visit on others consume its own society. It can’t blame the world. This is only karma,” Jaishankar added.
He said that a dysfunctional nation coveting the lands of others must be exposed and must be countered.
“The issue to be resolved between us is now only the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory by Pakistan, and, of course, the abandonment of Pakistan’s long standing attachment to terrorism,” he said.
Jaishankar also said that terrorism is antithetical to everything that the world stands for.
“All its forms of and manifestations must be resolutely opposed. The sanctioning of global terrorists by the United Nations should also not be impeded for political reasons,” he added.
