Daily Times

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has taken exception to the criticism by an Indian delegate on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s UN General Assembly speech in which the Pakistani leader forcefully urged the world body to fulfil its promise of self-determination to struggling people of Kashmir.

Exercising his right of reply, Pakistani delegate Tipu Usman said that premier Abbasi was only reflecting the sentiments and aspirations of the oppressed people of Indian-held Kashmir living under India’s brutal occupation.

Usman, a counsellor at the Pakistani Mission to the UN, was reacting to Indian delegate Eenam Gambhir’s allegation, accusing Pakistan of indulging in cross-border terrorism, and his claim that Kashmir was an “integral part” of India.

“The root cause of all ills of South Asia remains the unresolved Kashmir dispute,” the Pakistani delegate told the 193-member Assembly late on Thursday night.

He pointed out that ten civilians were killed in Pakistan side of Kashmir by Indian forces shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC) two days ago, which is “a sad reminder of Indian intransigence and stubbornness”.

Usman said Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval’s strategy of “offensive defence and double squeeze” to make India a dominating regional country would never succeed.

In this regard, the Pakistani delegate said that Kulbhushan Jadhav- “the Indian operator of mayhem and terrorism” – was caught red-handed in Pakistan. “The Indian dreams of dominating the region would thus remain just that – dreams,” he added.

Responding to an Afghan delegate, who accused Pakistan of failing to eliminate terrorist safe havens, Usman urged the Kabul government to stop blaming others for its problems and work on eliminating its terrorist safe havens and deal with its “narco-state”. Addressing Bangladesh, the Pakistani delegate said that the issues of 1971 were agreed and settled under a 1974 tripartite agreement. “We have to move on,” he said.

Published in Daily Times, September 23^rd 2017.