WR Desk: Pakistan accused India of having “elevated propaganda into statecraft”, embraced disinformation as diplomacy and “exported terrorism as an instrument of policy”, as Islamabad hit back at remarks made by the Indian representative at the UN General Assembly.

In  a reply to the Indian representative’s statement during the general debate of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, Counsellor Saima Saleem termed India a state “that has elevated propaganda into statecraft, embraced disinformation as diplomacy, exports terrorism as an instrument of policy, pursues hegemony as a regional strategy, mainstreamed Islamophobia and institutionalised Hindutva ideology”.

“The extraordinary balance sheet of today’s incredibly intolerant India. It exports terrorism and violence while trying to import victimhood and sympathy,” she said.

“Pakistan knows the cost of Indian-sponsored terrorism all too well,” she said, adding that since the turn of the century, Pakistan had lost nearly 100,000 lives to terrorism, generations had been scarred and billions of dollars had been drained from the country’s economy.

She said Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts and sacrifices had been well recognised internationally.

“We have also presented to the international community extensive evidence of India’s financing, aiding and abetting of terrorist groups targeting Pakistanis, including the TTP, BLA and Majeed Brigade,” she said.

“Yet, despite its endless lectures to others on terrorism, we are still waiting to hear India unequivocally condemn the terrorist attacks that kill innocent Pakistani civilians. But how can we expect India to condemn its proxies?” she stated.

She said India’s “terrorist exports have gone from regional to global”, citing former Indian naval commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, convicted in Pakistan on terrorism and espionage charges, and Nikhil Gupta, who pleaded guilty in the United States for plotting the murder of a Sikh leader at the direction of the Indian government.

She also referred to “others implicated in assassinations carried out in Canada”.

Kashmir dispute

Turning to the Kashmir dispute, the counsellor said: “Jammu and Kashmir never was, neither is, nor will ever be an integral part of India. It is an internationally recognised disputed territory, a huge part of which is under India’s forcible and illegal occupation for nearly eight decades against the wishes of the Kashmiri people, and in gross violation of international law and numerous resolutions of the Security Council.”

“The contrast between AJK and Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir could not be more stark,” she said.

“In AJK, Kashmiris enjoy rights, participate in political life and have the freedom to express their opinions, while the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir endure decades of occupation, repression and denial of their fundamental rights and freedoms, including the inalienable right to self-determination. Rights exercised cannot be equated with rights denied,” she said.

‘Largest hypocrisy in the world’

Saima said the ruling RSS-BJP dispensation in India had “institutionalised Hindutva ideology in state policy and practice, and unleashed a reign of terror against minorities”.

“Muslims are demonised; Christians persecuted; Dalits dehumanised; and Sikhs disenfranchised in the largest hypocrisy in the world,” she said.

She said massacres of Muslims in Gujarat and Delhi under state patronage, calls for the genocide of Muslims, Islamophobic rhetoric by politicians and discriminatory citizenship laws were part of the “Hindutva project”.