Sushma Swaraj addressing 73rd session of UNGA in New York
Launching a scathing attack on Pakistan, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday told the United Nations that Islamabad has acquired expertise not only in spreading terrorism but also in disowning it.
Addressing the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Sushma Swaraj said that the biggest proof of Pakistan's complicity in terror activities emerged when the dreaded terrorist Osama Bin Laden was found in that country.
Sushma Swaraj reminded how some photographs displayed by Pakistani representative at UN last lear as “proof” of “human rights violations” by India turned out to be from another country. She added that similar false accusations have become part of Pakistan's standard rhetoric.
Accusing Pakistan of glorifying killers, Sushma Swaraj said that Islamabad is refusing to see the blood of the innocents.
"Who can be a greater transgressor of human rights than a terrorist? Those who take innocent human lives in pursuit of war by other means are defenders of inhuman behavior, not of human rights. Pakistan glorifies killers. it refuses to see the blood of innocents," Sushma Swaraj said.
Dismissing Pakistan's accusation of sabotaging dialogue process, Sushma Swaraj said that Pakistan was responsible for obstructing the process every time India took a step forward.
"Allegations that we are not ready to initiate dialogue process with Pakistan, are untrue. It is because of Pakistan that the process remains obstructed every time we take a step forward," Sushma said.
"We are accused of sabotaging the process of talks. This is a complete lie. We believe that talks are only rational means to resolve the most complex of disputes. Talks with Pakistan have begun many times. If they stopped, it was only because of their behavior," she added.
Accusing Pakistan of indulging in verbal duplicity over terrorism, Sushma Swaraj said,"In our case, terrorism is bred not in some faraway land, but across our border. Our neighbour’s expertise is not restricted to spawning grounds for terrorism; it is also an expert in trying to mask malevolence with verbal duplicity."
Sushma told the world body that after assuming power, Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting a meeting between the countries’ foreign ministers on the margins of the General Assembly.
India accepted the proposal but, within hours of its acceptance, news came that terrorists had killed three Indian jawans, she said.
“Does this indicate a desire for dialogue,” Swaraj asked.
She noted that various governments in India over the years have tried the peace option with Pakistan.
Prime Minister Modi, by inviting the Heads of the SAARC nations to his swearing in ceremony in 2014, had begun his attempt for dialogue on his very first day in office. Swaraj said she too had in December 2016, personally gone to Islamabad and offered a comprehensive bilateral dialogue.
“But soon after, Pakistan-sponsored terrorists attacked our air force base in Pathankot on January 2. Please explain to me how we could pursue talks in the midst of terrorist bloodshed,” she asked.
The demon of terrorism now stalks the world, at a faster pace somewhere, a slower pace elsewhere, but life-threatening everywhere, Swaraj said.
Even as the killers of the 9/11 terror atacks in New York met their fate, Swaraj said the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Hafiz Saeed “still roams the streets of Pakistan with impunity.”
Swaraj, in her speech delivered in Hindi, told the world leaders that the most startling evidence of Pakistan’s duplicity was the fact that Osama bin Laden, the architect and ideologue of 9/11 was given safe haven in the country and even after the world’s most wanted terrorist was killed by American special forces, “Pakistan continued to behave as if nothing had happened.”
“America had declared Osama bin Laden it’s most dangerous enemy, and launched an exhaustive, worldwide search to bring him to justice. What America perhaps could not comprehend was that Osama would get sanctuary in a country that claimed to be America’s friend and ally: Pakistan,” she said.
She also pointed out that Pakistan’s “commitment to terrorism as an instrument of official policy has not abated one bit. Neither has its belief in hypocrisy.”
“What is heartening is that the world is no longer ready to believe Islamabad,” she said citing that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has put Pakistan on notice over terror funding.
Swaraj also slammed Pakistan for time and again accusing India of human rights violations, saying “who can be a greater transgressor of human rights than a terrorist?
“Those who take innocent human lives in pursuit of war by other means are defenders of inhuman behaviour, not of human rights. Pakistan glorifies killers; it refuses to see the blood of innocents,” she said.
Swaraj said it has become something of a habit with Pakistan to “throw the dust of deceit and deception against India in order to provide some thin cover for its own guilt.”
(With agency inputs)
