Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the 74th United Nations General Assembly General Debate on Friday afternoon in New York City, promising to fight for the freedom of the Kashmiri people to the death.

On the fourth day of addresses of the annual event, at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in lower Manhattan, Prime Minister Khan’s 50-minute address in front of the 193 member states detailed the country’s four most pressing challenges, most importantly the ongoing 55-day crisis in Kashmir.

Following the highly anticipated speech of US President Donald Trump earlier in the week, the prime minister addressed the UN in proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. It caused the UN to deploy increased security and take extra precautions to separate the two countries’ supporters on the fourth floor of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) press gallery.

Less than half an hour after Modi finished his less than impressive 17-minute address, Khan took his place at the rostrum at 10.49am local Eastern Daylight Time, or 7.49pm Pakistan Standard Time. Both addresses, however, were frequented with sustained applause from the UNGA floor for delegates and visitors and press gallery.

Far greater in number than their Indian counterparts, the Pakistani contingent provided their prime minister with the longest and most vocal applause witnessed during the week’s entirety. As Khan finished at 11.39am local time, he was greeted with a standing ovation and seemed to revel in the attention.

Recounting the narrative that got the two countries to the events of August 5, 2019 when India violated 11 UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, Khan questioned India’s belief that the actions of a 20 year-old Kashmiri man, who blew himself up at an approaching Indian convoy was because of Pakistan’s influence and began the intractable conflict.

“If you give us any iota of proof, we will immediately take action because we have clamped down on these [militant jihadist] groups,” Khan said at the UN. “Rather than sending us any proof, they [India] sent their jets in, they bombed us, we retaliated, two of their planes were shot down, one pilot bailed out in Pakistan – we immediately returned the pilot. Saying, ‘look, we do not want any escalation’.”

Khan presupposed that the spark for the current state of affairs began long ago. It was Modi’s anti-Islamic sentiment during his time as chief minister in Gujarat and his affiliation with the Hindu Nationalist Group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that has currently led Modi on the path to effectively imprison 8 million Kashmiris. After this statement, Khan received sustained applause and shouts of ‘Shame! Shame!’ from the visitors gallery.

Khan went on to further compare Modi and the RSS’s ideology to Adolf Hitler’s Brownshirts during the 1920s, 1930s and Second World War and the Germans’ belief in a superior Aryan race.

Like the riots that occurred in the state of Gujarat in 2002 that resulted in more than 1000 deaths, Khan stated that Modi’s arrogance and political actions were cruel and treatment worse than those given to animals, reminding those in attendance that his inaction in Gujarat was the reason the Indian prime minister was previously barred from entering the US in 2005.

Following India’s pushback against the August 13, 1948 and January 5, 1949 UNSC resolutions, which included Kashmir’s right of self-determination; violating the July 3, 1972 bilateral Simla Agreement; and possibly going against India’s own Constitution; the tipping point was arguably the illegal revocation of Article 370 and the state’s special status on August 9, 2019.

Far greater in number than their Indian counterparts, the Pakistani contingent provided their prime minister with the longest and most vocal applause witnessed during the week’s entirety. As Khan finished at 11.39am local time, he was greeted with a standing ovation and seemed to revel in the attention

“But this has serious consequences and again I repeat, that is why I am here. Look, what is going to happen when the curfew is lifted will be a bloodbath,” Khan said in his address.

Asking the Indian prime minister rhetorically what would be gained from further terrorising the people of Kashmir, Khan sent out his final plea.

“These 900,000 troops, what are they going to do when they [Kashmiri people] come out? There will be a bloodbath. Has he [Modi] thought it through what happens then? Mr. President, has anyone thought [of] what happens when there is a bloodbath, what do you think the impact will [be] on the people of Kashmir?”

Khan claimed that around 100,000 Kashmiris have been killed in the last 30 years and more than 11,000 women raped because India has violated their right of self-determination dating back to October 27, 1947 when the Maharaja was forced to sign the accession instrument, thereby annexing the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Khan said that now, unlike in 1948, is not the time for appeasement.

“India must lift this inhuman curfew, which has lasted for 55 days, it must free, it must free all political prisoners […] and then, the world community must give the people of Kashmir the right of self-determination,” Khan ended, immediately walking away from the dais, exiting stage right.

The UN hosted its first high-level Climate Action Summit on September 23, 2019. Several dozen heads of state and government spoke, as well as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former New York City Michael Bloomberg and the controversial Greta Thunberg. The 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist has sparked climate protests worldwide, including in Lahore, Peshawar, Gilgit and Chagai, among others.

Thunberg issued an emotional condemnation of the world’s leaders at the summit’s opening. Breaking all protocol and sitting less than three metres from Secretary-General António Guterres, Thunberg verbally accosted and threatened leaders because of their passive climate inaction and empty climatic promises guided by economic growth, not sustainable development, saying, “How dare you”, and concluding her remarks by saying, “If you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you”.

The UNGA General Debate will continue until September 30. A taped webcast of Khan’s address can be viewed at gadebate.un.org/generaldebate74/en. The address can also be viewed at youtube.com/watch?v=IcSb8XcSCWQ which had more than 206,000 views after less than four hours, and 700,000 views within six-and-a-half hours after being posted.

The writer has worked as a journalist for more than 16 years, having been based in several dozen countries, including Islamabad