Would Pak PM deny that he was an open defender of Osama bin Laden?: India at UN

New Delhi, India

India at the United Nations slammed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's UNGA speech and described it as "misuse, rather abuse, of an

opportunity to reflect".

India's delegate at UN General Assembly and first secretary, Ministry of External Affairs Vidisha Maitra stated that the General Assembly has rarely witnessed the "invocation of phrases such as 'pogrom', 'bloodbath', 'racial superiority', 'pick up the gun' and 'fight to the end.'"

She added that such an act "reflects a medieval mindset and not a 21st century vision". Maitra was addressing the UN in India's right to reply. 

"Unfortunately, what we heard today from Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan was a callous portrayal of the world in binary terms. Us vs them; rich versus poor; North versus South; developed versus developing; Muslims versus others. A script that fosters divisiveness at the United Nations. Attempts to sharpen differences and stir up hatred, are simply put - 'hate speech'," Maitra told the Assembly. 

"Prime Minister Khan’s threat of unleashing nuclear devastation qualifies as brinksmanship, not statesmanship... his justification of terrorism was brazen and incendiary," Maitra said, asking the Pak PM to address the following questions:

1. Can Pakistan confirm the fact that it is home to 130 UN designated terrorists and 25 terrorist entities listed by the UN, as of today?

2. Will Pakistan acknowledge that it is the only government in the world that provides pension to an individual listed by the UN in the Al Qaeda and Da’esh Sanctions list!

3. Can Pakistan explain why here in New York, its premier bank, the Habib Bank had to shut shop after it was fined millions of dollars over terror financing?

4. Will Pakistan deny that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)  has put the country on notice for its violations of more than 20 of the 27 key parameters?

5. Would Prime Minister Khan deny to the city of New York that he was an open defender of Osama bin Laden?

Maitra stated that Pakistan is "trying to play its wild card as the newfound champion of human rights," adding that the size of Pakistan's minority population has shrunk from 23 per cent in 1947 to a mere 3 per cent today.

"This a country that has shrunk the size of its minority community from 23 per cent in 1947 to 3 per cent today and has subjected Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadiyas, Hindus, Shias, Pashtuns, Sindhis and Balochis to draconian blasphemy laws, systemic persecution, blatant abuse and forced conversions," she told the UN.

Dismissing the Kashmir rant by Imran Khan, which constituted around 20 minutes of his 40 minute speech, India said, "While Pakistan has ventured to upstream terrorism and downstream hate speech there, India is going ahead with mainstreaming development in Jammu and Kashmir." 

Adding, "mainstreaming of Jammu & Kashmir, as well as Ladakh, in India’s thriving and vibrant democracy with a millennia-old heritage of diversity, pluralism and tolerance is well and truly underway. Irreversibly so".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his UNGA address on Friday said that that terrorism is a challenge not for any one country, but for the entire world.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that "we believe that terrorism is not a challenge for any country, but all countries and of mankind as a whole. So for the sake of humanity, all the world has to unite against terror".

Speaking at the 74th UNGA session, PM Modi recounted India's contribution towards world peace and said that India is the country that has made the biggest sacrifice at the United Nations peacekeeping missions. 

Interestingly, PM Modi's in his speech did not mention Pakistan even once.