In an unusual face-off, Indian and Pakistani diplomats engaged in heated exchanges in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) over Jammu and Kashmir.
The sharp exchanges of words started after deputy envoy of Pakistan to UN charged India with sponsoring terrorism in the neighbouring countries. This led to Indians a
ttacking Islamabad for raising Kashmir to deflect attention from its internal problems which needed to be addressed for the common good of Pakistanis, and thereby the entire region.
The Pakistan side appeared to have come with prepared remarks on many of these contentious issues, while Indians seemed to have taken off-guard initially and did not offer comments on specific allegations raised by the other side.
“The Indian government is well advised to take careful stock of its own polices and conduct that includes supporting terrorist elements in neighbouring countries which contributes to the problems facing South Asia,” said Amjad Hussain B. Sial, deputy envoy of Pakistan to the UN.
“India is also the country which conceived, created and nurtured the most lethal terrorist organisation, which introduced suicide bombings in our region. Still India has the nerves to give lectures on morality to others,” he said in an indirect reference to the LTTE.
These charges by Islamabad came hours after external affairs minister S.M. Krishna, at the UN on Wednesday, criticised Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and said it should not impart lessons to New Delhi on democracy and human rights.
Reacting sharply to Mr Sial’s remarks, Manish Gupta, a diplomat in the Indian Mission to the UN, said, “Such unsolicited and untenable remarks will not and indeed, cannot divert attention from the multiple problems Pakistan needs to tackle for the common good of its people, and indeed of the entire region.”
“Pakistan should seriously concentrate on addressing the enormous challenges confronting it: terrorism, extremism and sectarianism, to name a few and the dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure that exists on territory under its control,” Mr Gupta said. The confrontation at the UN happened after more than a week of critical remarks and retaliations from both sides, which scuttled any possibility of an Indo-Pak bilateral on the sidelines of the opening session. —PTI