India on Monday (September 21) called Pakistan the epicentre of global Islamic terrorism at various United Nations bodies.
This was a multi-pronged attack on Pakistan as India slammed its human rights record. Senthil Kumar, first secretary, Permanent Mission of India in Geneva told the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) “Yet again, though we are not surprised, Pakistan has twice chosen to divert the attention of the Council with its imposturous political propaganda full of disinformation and gratuitous references about India’s internal matters today,”.
Indian diplomats posted in the various UN bodies went on the offensive and called Pakistan ‘globally recognised epicentre of terrorism’. They also highlighted the numerous instances of violence against journalists, human rights activists and minorities in that country.
Vidisha Maitra, first secretary in Permanent Mission of India in UN said that Pakistan is a country which is ‘globally recognised epicentre of terrorism’, and has admitted that it ‘harbours and trains terrorists and hails them as martyrs and consistently persecutes its ethnic and religious minorities’.
This strong response was given after Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi again tried to raise the Kahmir issue at the UN.
Maitra said, “We reject the malicious reference made to Jammu & Kashmir, which is an integral part of India. If there is an item that is unfinished on the agenda of the UN, it is that of tackling the scourge of terrorism… What we heard today is the never-ending fabricated narrative presented by Pakistani representative about internal affairs of India,”.
The Indian World Forum (IWF) has also urged the UNSC to investigate crimes against minorities in Pakistan and in a written communique to the UN, it said, “The minorities living in Pakistan are victims of heinous crimes which is threatening international peace. Atrocities ranging from abduction to forceful conversion into Islam of young girls is a matter of great concern and decrease in demographics of minorities portray lack of compliance of Pakistan to UN Charter,”.