India’s “Inevitable Consequences” Warning after Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif’s UN Speech

By R Anil Kumar

• In a strong retort, India has slammed Pakistan in the UN General Assembly, saying its fingerprints” are on terrorist incidents across the world and the country should realise that cross-border terrorism against India will inevitably invite consequences

• India slams Pak at UN, warns of consequences for cross-border terrorism

• India exercised its Right of Reply in the UN General Assembly in response to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir

UNITED NATIONS, September 28. India exercised its Right of Reply in the UN General Assembly on Friday, September 27, in response to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in his address at the General Debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

India’s First Secretary to the UN, Bhavika Mangalanandan, delivered a pointed rebuttal alleging Pakistan’s complicity in global terrorism and citing its long history of using cross-border terrorism as a state policy.

The First Secretary, Ms Mangalanandan described Shehbaz Sharif’s speech as audacious.

India issued a stern warning to Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) following Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech, in which he raised the Jammu and Kashmir issue. India firmly responded by stating that Pakistan’s continued support for cross-border terrorism will “inevitably invite consequences.”

Ms Mangalanandan’s statement came in response to Mr Sharif’s call for India to reverse its 2019 abrogation of Article 370, which revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and his demands for a dialogue between the two countries.

“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,”

Ms Mangalanandan said. “The world can see for itself what Pakistan really is.”

She asserted that as the world knows, Pakistan has long employed cross-border terrorism as a weapon against its neighbour.

The First Secretary described Mr Sharif’s speech as audacious, given Pakistan’s international “reputation for terrorism”, narcotics trade, and transnational crime. “A country run by the military, with a global reputation for terrorism…has had the audacity to attack the world’s largest democracy,” she said, referencing attacks orchestrated by Pakistan-based terror groups, including the 2001 Indian Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The list is long. For such a country to speak about violence anywhere is hypocrisy at its worst, Mangalanandan said.

Ms Mangalanandan said Pakistan’s “fingerprints” are on many terrorist incidents across the world.  ”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.

We know that Pakistan will seek to counter the truth with more lies. Repetition will change nothing. Our stand is clear and needs no reiteration,” she said.

India reiterated that any discussion of a “Strategic Restraint Regime” with Pakistan is moot unless terrorism is eradicated.

Ms Mangalanandan noted, “There can be no compact with terrorism.” She also spoke of Pakistan’s past, including its hosting of Osama bin Laden and connections to various terrorist incidents worldwide.

Mr Sharif, in his speech, linked the Kashmir issue with regional peace. He also alleged that India’s military expansion was directed against Pakistan. However, Ms Mangalanandan pointed out Pakistan’s history of meddling in Jammu and Kashmir through terrorism, seeking to disrupt the democratic process in the region.

India’s response extended beyond terrorism to Pakistan’s internal issues. Ms Mangalanandan accused Pakistan of human rights abuses, referring to the genocide of 1971 in Bangladesh and its persecution of minorities. She called it “ridiculous” for Pakistan to lecture the world about intolerance, given its own record.

India stressed that it is even more extraordinary for a country with a history of rigged elections to talk about political choices, that too in a democracy.

The real truth is that Pakistan covets our territory, and in fact, has continuously used terrorism to disrupt elections in Jammu and Kashmir, an inalienable and integral part of India, the young Indian diplomat said.

She said it is ridiculous that a nation that committed genocide in 1971 and which persecutes its minorities relentlessly even now, dare speak about intolerances and phobias. The world can see for itself what Pakistan really is.

Every year, Pakistan’s leaders, on expected lines, make references to Jammu and Kashmir in their UNGA speeches and India fields its young diplomats to deliver hard-hitting retorts to Islamabad’s rants.