United Nations, Sep 26: Describing Pakistan as a “puppet” regime, India has ripped into the country’s “falsehoods” and “deceit” at the UN, warning that continued terrorism by Islamabad will have consequences.
India exercised its Right of Reply on Friday night after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used the UN General Assembly podium to credit US President Donald Trump for his “timely intervention” in the 2025 conflict with India, as he again raked up the Kashmir issue in his address at the world organisation.
First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Petal Gahlot, said, “We heard some hypocritical homilies about democratic rights and human values from a regime whose capital at this very moment is being fortified against its own people.”
“And that…is happening because this is a regime of the army, by the army, and for the army. Their puppets may come and go but let us have no illusion who calls the shots. The reality of Pakistan is expressed in its 27th Amendment and the lifelong immunity granted to its real ruler,” Gahlot said.
She was referring to the 27th Constitutional Amendment passed in November last year by the Shehbaz Sharif government, which grants Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir lifelong immunity from any legal prosecution.
“We are confident that this Assembly will recognise Pakistan and its policies for what they really are; not what its representative mendaciously projects it to be. Reiterating falsehoods year after year does not make them true. Pakistan’s terrorism, deceit and duplicity will neither benefit it nor the world,” she said.
In his address, Sharif had thanked Trump for his “resolute and visionary leadership”, saying that the American leader’s “timely intervention” saved hundreds of millions of lives in South Asia.
In his about 23-minute address, Sharif also raised the issue of Kashmir, saying that to ensure South Asia never reaches that precipice of the conflict of 2025 again, a just and fair solution to the Kashmir issue is required.
India reminded the UN General Assembly that Sharif’s “bizarre remarks” came just a fortnight after New York City and the world marked the 25th anniversary of the horrendous 9/11 terrorist attack.
“This context…is important to keep in mind because its mastermind, Osama Bin Laden, was living right on the doorstep of the Pakistani Army’s premier academy,” Gahlot said.
Slamming Sharif for raising the Kashmir issue in his address, Gahlot said the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of the country.
“And will always remain so. But if we must talk about Kashmir, let us turn our attention to the Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Ask the people of Rawalakot about the wanton killings, the brutal violence and the denial of basic rights that they have long experienced,” she added.
The Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) region has been witnessing protests for several months over 12 contentious refugee seats, triggering a crackdown by security forces and allegations of rigging in the recently held elections to the so-called legislative assembly.
Ripping Pakistan for its “longstanding practice” of cross-border terrorism, Gahlot said India had demonstrated last year that “terrorists will have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide”.
India had launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that had killed 26 civilians.
“Our right to defend ourselves against terrorism will be exercised. And continued terrorism by Pakistan will have consequences. It will understandably call into question what were premised on friendship and goodwill,” Gahlot said.
She asserted that the views heard in the UNGA from Sharif “emanate from those with a long record of bigotry and hatred”.
“This Assembly was subjected to remarks about religious intolerance from the very regime whose mainstay is blasphemy laws. The world knows how minorities are treated in Pakistan; no pious platitude can mislead it,” she said.
