Rejecting Pakistan Foreign Minister Mehmood Shah Qureshi's statement against India at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, India's Ambassador to the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin has said, "New Pakistan cast in the mold of the old."
Exercising a Right of Reply, Akbaruddin, in the UNGA general debate, called out Pakistan's baseless allegations levelled against India while saying that New Delhi orchestrated terror activities in Islamabad.
Referring to Qureshi's statement where he alleged India's involvement in the 2014 Peshawar school attack, the Indian envoy said, "Among the most outrageous was the preposterous allegation relating to the horrific terror attack on a Peshawar school four years ago. Let me recollect for the new government of Pakistan the outpouring of sorrow and pain in India that followed the massacre of innocent children in 2014. Both houses of India's Parliament had expressed solidarity while paying respect to the memory of those killed. Schools all over India had observed two minutes of silence in their memory."
He further asserted that these allegations are a part of Pakistan's attempt to look away from the "monster of terror" that it has itself created to "destabilise its neighbours and covet their territory."
Akbaruddin also established the importance of the state of Jammu and Kashmir saying that it is an integral part of India and continue to be so.
Aiming at Pakistan's claim of fighting terrorism, India asked Pakistan to deny being the host and patron of 132 of the UN-designated terrorists and 22 terrorist entities under the 1267 and the 1988 UN Security Council sanctions regime.
Akbaruddin also questioned the freedom experienced by UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed's in Pakistan as he continued to set up candidates for electoral office.
Taking a dig at Pakistan's newly-found appreciation of upholding Human Rights, the Indian diplomat quoted the example of appointment and removal of Princeton economist, Professor Atif Mian's from the Economic Advisory Council on grounds that he belongs to a 'minority'.
"Before preaching to the world, championing of human rights should begin at home," Akbaruddin added.
Akbaruddin also slammed Qureshi for his comment where he said that New Delhi cancelled the meeting of the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan on "flimsy ground" "The new Foreign Minister of Pakistan chose to term the gruesome killing of our security personnel by Pakistani sponsored terrorists as 'flimsy' grounds. While it may not be the case for Pakistan, for India every loss of life counts. Hence our belief that talks and terror cannot go together," he noted.
"Pakistan must demonstrate that it has moved beyond a narrative of distortion, deception and deceit," Akbaruddin added while snubbing Pakistan's fake claims and allegations.
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