At the United Nations annual gathering of world leaders on Monday, the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj dismissed the UN’s solution of declaring Kashmir a disputed territory and campaigned to isolate Pakistan. The 193 member General Assembly were told that it was time to identify countries who “nurture, peddle and export terrorism” and isolate them for not joining the global fight against it. She firmly advised Pakistan to abandon the dream of every gaining Kashmir and stated that “Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain so”.
When Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif brought up India’s human rights issues on Occupied Kashmir, she chose respond with, “The brutality against the Baloch people represents the worst form of State oppression”, referring to the ethnic minority in Pakistan. She said the arrest of Pakistani Bahadur Ali who confessed that he was trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was “living proof of Pakistan’s complicity in cross-border terrorism”. She called out Pakistan for remaining in denial despite being confronted with such evidence.
Prime Minister Narendra Singh Modi previously vowed to launch a global campaign against Pakistan. Sushma Swaraj claimed that India is not bound to have negotiations with Pakistan and that Modi had already extended goodwill to Pakistan by inviting PM Sharif to his oath ceremony.
Pakistan on the other hand denies all allegations, even those of their involvement in the Uri attack. PM Sharif said that India put “unacceptable conditions on the dialogue
”. He said a new generation of Kashmiris have only risen because they want freedom from India. Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi called Swaraj’s statements “a litany of falsehoods and baseless accusations”. She said that India suspended talks more than a year ago and refuse to resume despite multiple offers from Pakistan.
Pakistan emphasised that it does not want to begin an arms race with India.
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