BackPakistan provides sanctuary to UN-designated terrorists: India
Indian envoy to the United Nations (UN) Syed Akbaruddin says Pakistan uses terror as a state policy after Pakistan called Burhan Wani's killing 'extra-judicial'
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New Delhi: India on Thursday slammed Pakistan’s attempts to put it in the dock for alleged human rights violations in Kashmir, describing Pakistan as a country that “extols the virtues of terrorists and that provides sanctuary to UN-designated terrorists".
Pakistan’s accusations came after some 30 protesters were killed in Jammu and Kashmir in clashes with the police last weekend, following the shooting of Burhan Wani, a member of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen.
India’s permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin told the world body that Pakistan “uses terrorism as state policy."
Akbaruddin’s strongly worded remarks—made during a debate on human rights—came after Pakistan’s representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodi, described Wani’s killing last Friday as “extra-judicial" and an example of Indian human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir that included arbitrary detentions and summary executions, according to a PTI report.
“Its most chilling recent example is the extra-judicial killing last week of a Kashmiri leader, Burhan Wani, shot to death by Indian forces along with dozens of other innocent Kashmiris," Lodi was cited as saying.
After Wani was killed by Indian security forces in Kashmir, some 30 people were reported killed in the subsequent protests.
Lodi also described Wani as a “Kashmiri leader"—a formulation previously used by the Pakistani foreign office in a statement issued on Sunday—something India strongly objected to earlier this week.
In his response, the Indian envoy to the UN said Lodi’s statement on Kashmir was an “attempt at misuse of this UN platform" and called it “regrettable".
He described Pakistan as “a country that covets the territory of others; a country that uses terrorism as state policy towards that misguided end; a country that extols the virtues of terrorists and that provides sanctuary to UN-designated terrorists; and a country that masquerades its efforts as support for human rights and self determination."
“Pakistan is the same country whose track record has failed to convince the international community to gain membership of the Human Rights Council in this very Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
“The international community has long seen through such designs. Cynical attempts, like the one this morning therefore, find no resonance in this forum or elsewhere in the United Nations," Akbaruddin said.
A country “as diverse, pluralistic and tolerant" as India is committed to the rule of law and this was enshrined in its founding principles, Akbaruddin said.
“We remain strongly committed to the promotion and protection of all human rights for all through pursuit of dialogue and cooperation," he added.
In the Indian foreign office briefing in New Delhi, foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup characterised Pakistan’s attempts to draw international attention to the situation in Indian Kashmir as “a self serving exercise for narrow political ends". He was responding to a question on reports of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif convening a special cabinet meet on the unrest in Indian Kashmir and the Pakistani foreign office briefing envoys of different countries based in Islamabad.
“Terrorism is terrorism. No amount of parsing or justification on the part of Pakistan is going to change that. Second, our internal affairs are totally ours to handle. Any effort by any other party claiming it as theirs or trying to interfere, seeking to internationalise the issue, will not change that reality. Thirdly, the world today has a very clear view on which country in our region covets the territory of others, uses terrorism as an instrument of state policy, provides sanctuary to UN designated terrorists and terrorist groups and violates human rights," Swarup said.
When asked if there was any prospect of renewal of peace talks between India and Pakistan, Swarup said India had never shied away from dialogue with Pakistan. However, it is incumbent on Pakistan to create the right atmosphere for a productive dialogue to take place....talks and terror cannot go hand in hand."
Swarup also accused Pakistan of fanning discontent within Indian Kashmir.
“It is part of the continued strategy of Pakistan of not only infiltrating terrorists from across the border but also fanning discontent within the Valley by providing support to terrorist outfits," he said.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting an armed insurgency in Indian administered Kashmir, a charge Pakistan denies. Islamabad however admits to extending moral, political and diplomatic support to, what it calls, the Kashmiri people’s freedom struggle.
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