New Delhi: India lashed out at Pakistan at the United Nations and accused Islamabad of losing control over terrorist groups it created and sheltered. India said that the same forces that operated against neighboring countries have now turned against Pakistan itself.
India’s first secretary at the UN mission, Raghoo Puri, speaking at the UN General Assembly’s Sixth Committee said that Islamabad’s claims of being victim and frontline state in the fight against terrorism ignore its own role in fostering terror groups.
“Pakistan has presented itself as a frontline state in combating terrorism and as a victim, while masking the fact that the Frankenstein’s (monster) the Pakistani state has created and lost control over has moved from wrecking havoc in neighboring countries to doing the same in Pakistan,” he said.
“This was exposed recently by a provincial chief minister of Pakistan, and may I jog the memory of colleagues to an interview in 2018 by her father and former prime minister of Pakistan, exposing this dark secret,” he stated.
“You cannot run with the hares and hunt with the hounds,” he warned. “Reality never works like that”.
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Pakistani Leaders’ Remarks Cited
First Secretary Puri pointed to comments by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz in Lahore, who recently said that the province faced a bigger threat from the neighboring Pakistani provinces than from neighboring countries.
“Unfortunately, the threat Punjab, a province of 130 million, faces comes less from my neighboring countries and more from my neighboring provinces,” she said.
Maryam Nawaz also rejected attempts to distinguish between terrorists and so-called freedom fighters. She said that those involved in extremist violence remain terrorists regardless of their political motives.
Puri also referred to former PM Nawaz Sharif’s 2018 interview to with the Dawn in 2018, in which he questioned the presence of militant organizations and their operations in neighboring countries.
“Militant organizations are active. Call them non-state actors; should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai?”
However, in his reply Puri did not name the members of the Sharif family.
India Rejects Pakistan’s Operation Sindoor Claims
On Pakistan’s claims of victory in Operation Sindoor, Puri took a dig at Islamabad.
“If bombed-out airfields and cratered runways look like victory to Pakistan, they are, of course, welcome to enjoy it,” he said.
He accused the Pakistani delegation of continuing a campaign of misinformation.
“Pakistani representative’s desperation to falsely tout the Pakistani military’s narrative on the outcome of Operation Sindoor” merely aligned with its long-standing machinery of state-sponsored disinformation and psychological deception, he asserted.
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When the Pakistani delegation returned with another intervention, Puri dismissed what he described as repeated arguments and narratives.
“Pakistan believes in the circular economy of words and narratives,” he said.
“If this much effort had actually been made in countering terrorism rather than narrative building, misinformation, and disinformation, the world would have been a better place,” he observed.
“But nothing more can be expected from a Form 47 government,” he added.
India Raises Pahalgam, Masood Azhar
Puri came down heavily on Pakistan’s hypocrisy over minority rights and religious hatred. He referred to the Pahalgam terror attack, in which victims were targeted on the basis of their religion.
“The victims in Pahalgam were not asked about their political orientation; they were asked about their religion,” he said.
“It is therefore deeply ironic that Pakistan speaks of combating religious hatred while allowing the conditions that enable it to persist and thrive, especially by fomenting cross-border terrorism,” he said.
India’s representative questioned Pakistan’s claims of taking action against Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar by increasing the reward money for information leading to his arrest.
“Pakistan glosses over its state support for terrorism by announcing enhanced rewards for apprehending UN-listed head of Jaish-e-Mohammed, terrorist and mastermind of several attacks against my country,” he said.
“When the media can reach Masood Azhar and get confirmation from him about the success of Operation Sindoor, surely the Pakistani state knows his whereabouts,” he said, pointing to what he described as Pakistan’s hypocrisy.
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Puri reminded Pakistan that its representatives had previously described Jaish-e-Mohammed as defunct.
“Just a few months ago, Pakistani representatives used this forum to call the Jaish-e-Mohammed a defunct organization,” Puri reminded the assembly. “The world has seen the script play earlier, and we are clear-eyed that this time also it is going to be no different.”
India Invokes 9/11, 26/11 and Pahalgam
India’s representative warned the assembly that allowing terrorist organizations to operate under political protection undermined international commitments and denied justice to victims.
“When terrorist groups are allowed to operate under state political power, international commitments become meaningless, and when perpetrators are provided safe havens, the victims of terrorism are denied justice.”
“The world has not forgotten 9/11, and where its perpetrators, including Osama bin Laden, were caught,” he said.
He also invoked the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the Pahalgam terror attack.
Reminding the UN General Assembly about the Mumbai attacks, Puri said that Pakistani terrorists killed 166 innocent people in the attack. “The world has not forgotten 26/11,” he said. He also mentioned the Pahalgam terror attack, saying, “The world has not forgotten Pahalgam.”
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“The world is aware of Pakistan’s financial support to terrorism, as also, the FATF plenary meeting coming up soon,” Puri said.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is scheduled to hold its next plenary meeting in Paris from October 26 to 30.