New Delhi: Ahead of hosting an SCO summit where it has invited the Indian side, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at the United Nations that India should roll back the dilution of Kashmir’s constitutional status and described New Delhi’s action as “classic settler-colonial project”.
“To secure durable peace, India must reverse the unilateral and illegal measures it has taken on August 5, 2019, and enter into a dialogue for a peaceful resolution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security [Council] resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people,” he said at the UN General Assembly on Friday (September 27).
Later, using the right to reply, India hit back, terming Sharif’s speech as “travesty”, and saying that it is even more extraordinary for a country (Pakistan) with a history of rigged elections to talk about political choices, that too in a democracy.
A significant portion of Sharif’s speech focused on Gaza, where he criticised Israel, before drawing a direct comparison to Kashmir. “Similarly, like the people of Palestine, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have also struggled for a century for their freedom and right to self-determination,” he added.
Sharif’s pointed remarks come just weeks before Islamabad is set to host the SCO heads of government meeting, for which India, as a full member, has been invited.
India has yet to decide whether External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will attend, which, if it happens, would mark the first visit by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan since 2015.
Pakistan had downgraded diplomatic ties with India after the parliament had watered down Article 370 of the Indian constitution in 2019 and bifurcated the state into two union territories. There has been virtually no political and economic ties since then.
Sharif also mentioned Burhan Wani, a member of the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group, who was killed by Indian security forces in an encounter in 2016.
“India’s policy of brutal coercion and oppression in occupied Kashmir has ensured that Burhan Wani’s legacy continues to inspire the struggle and sacrifices of millions of Kashmiris. Inspired by the legitimacy of their epic struggle, they remain defiant,” said the Pakistani Prime Minister.
He went on to accuse India of carrying out “a classic settler-colonial project,” alleging that India is “seizing Kashmiri land and properties and settling outsiders in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, in a nefarious design to transform the Muslim majority into a minority. This hackneyed tactic is employed by all occupying powers.”
Sharif further claimed that India has “failed” in its objectives, adding, “The Kashmiri people are resolute in rejecting the false Indian identity that New Delhi seeks to impose. Severe conditions and atrocities are being committed every hour.”
He also asserted that India is “engaged in a massive expansion of its military capabilities, which are essentially deployed against Pakistan.”
Referring to India’s ‘cold start’ doctrine, Sharif stated that Indian military strategies “envisage a surprise attack and a limited war under the nuclear overhang.”
“Thoughtlessly, India has spurned Pakistan’s proposals for a mutual strategic restraint regime, and its leadership has often threatened to cross the Line of Control and take over Azad Kashmir. Let me state in no uncertain terms that Pakistan will respond decisively against any Indian aggression,” he concluded.
Following Sharif’s speech, India used the right to reply to launch a scathing attack on Pakistan.
“This Assembly regrettably witnessed a travesty this morning. A country, run by the military, with a global reputation for terrorism, narcotics trade and transnational crime has had the audacity to attack the world’s largest democracy. As the world knows, Pakistan has long employed cross-border terrorism as a weapon against its neighbours. It has attacked our Parliament, our financial capital Mumbai, market places and pilgrimage routes. The list is long. For such a country to speak about violence anywhere is hypocrisy at its worst,” said India in the reply.
The Indian statement added that the real truth is that Pakistan covets India’s territory, and in fact, has continuously used terrorism to disrupt elections in Jammu and Kashmir, an inalienable and integral part of India.
“A reference has been made to some proposal of strategic restraint. There can be no compact with terrorism. In fact, Pakistan should realize that cross-border terrorism against India will inevitably invite consequences. It is ridiculous that a nation that committed genocide in 1971 and which persecutes its minorities relentlessly even now dare speak about intolerance and phobias. The world can see for itself what Pakistan really is,” added the Indian statement.
“We are talking about a nation that for long hosted Osama Bin Laden. A country whose fingerprints are on so many terrorist incidents across the world. Whose policies attract the dregs of many societies to make it their home. Perhaps, it should come as no surprise that its Prime Minister would so speak in this hallowed hall. Yet, we must make clear how unacceptable his words are to all of us.”
