At UN, Saima Saleem categorically rejects India’s allegations about Pakistan’s involvement in terrorist acts


NEW YORK, Sep 24 (SABAH): At the United Nations, Pakistan has once again highlighted the instances of Indian sponsorship of terrorism and aggression against all its neighbours, terming it the “principal perpetrator, sponsor, financier and abettor” of terrorism in South Asia.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Counsellor at Pakistan Mission to the United Nations Saima Saleem categorically rejected India’s allegations about Pakistan’s involvement in terrorist acts.

She said that the myth of terrorism against Pakistan created and propagated by India cannot and will not hide the stark reality that people of Pakistan, Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and its own minorities are victims of its state-sponsored terrorism.

She said that today, India itself is the principal perpetrator, sponsor, financier and abettor of terrorism in the region. India has sponsored and perpetrated terrorism and aggression against all its neighbors by  creating terrorist groups, and destabilizing and blockading neighbors to do its strategic bidding.

Saima Saleem said that in Pakistan, it is funding and supporting terrorist organizations like the TTP and the BLA. Over the last decade, thousands of innocent Pakistanis have lost their lives or have been injured as a result of these Indian-sponsored terrorist attacks.

She said that Pakistan has shared irrefutable evidence of Indian involvement in supporting and sponsoring terrorism with the international community. India’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, has publicly admitted supporting and financing of terrorist organizations. The captured Indian spy, Kulbhushan Jadhav, has also confessed to organizing terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

Saima Saleem said that since the Hindutva inspired RSS-BJP Government’s unilateral and illegal actions on 5 August 2019 termed as “Final Solution”, India’s 900,000 occupation forces in occupied Kashmir – the “densest” occupation in history – have escalated their oppression of 8 million Kashmiri men, women and children in the world’s largest “open-air prison” through  extra-judicial killings in fake encounters;  enforced disappearances of 15,000 young Kashmiri boys; incarceration of the entire Kashmiri leadership; bringing about demographic change by issuing millions of fake domicile certificates to non-Kashmiris; gerrymandering of electoral boundaries for reducing Muslim representation; curbing religious freedom and media and internet blackout.

She said that last year, Pakistan presented a comprehensive Dossier containing concrete evidence of the massive human rights violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide being perpetrated by Indian occupation forces. Since 1989, Indian occupation forces have committed over one lac extra-judicial killings, around 162,000 cases of arbitrary arrests and torture, over 25,000 pellet gun injuries, 11,250 cases of rape and gang rape, and 8652 unmarked mass graves, attesting to the genocide which is being committed in occupied Kashmir. Yet, we fear that these discoveries of Indian crimes are but the tip of the iceberg.

Saima Saleem said that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has published two reports highlighting the grave and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by India in Kashmir. Calling for accountability, the High Commissioner has recommended the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate these atrocity crimes against people of Kashmir and have called upon India to grant access to monitor the worsening human rights situation. Several other Special Rapporteurs and Mandate Holders have also termed the human rights situation in occupied Kashmir in a “free fall.”

She said that the international media and major human rights organizationshave expressed serious concerns about human rights violations in the occupied territory. Professor Gregory H. Stanton, President of Genocide Watch, warned that “the Indian government’s actions in Kashmir have been an extreme case of persecution and could very well lead to genocide.”

She said that not surprisingly, Indian authorities have failed to respond to any of these recommendations and communications. In fact, a witch hunt has been launched against those who dare to report these crimes, including Amnesty International and other human rights organizations, journalists and human rights defenders.

Saima Saleem said that if India has nothing to hide, it must grant access to Occupied Jammu and Kashmir to human rights mechanisms, accept a UN Commission of Inquiry and agree to implement the Security Council resolutions.

Saima Saleem said that India’s reign of terror against its minorities which are more than the population of majority of the countries of the world, continues unabated. The pandemic of Islamophobia has penetrated into the very foundations of the Indian state, where 200 million defenceless Muslims are lynched by cow vigilantes and killed in pogroms led by RSS “brown-short” thugs; where there are public calls of genocide of Muslims being made with official complicity; where the criminal perpetrators of the Gujrat and Delhi pogroms enjoy state office and patronage; where the desecration of mosques, including the Babri Mosque and a temple being built in its place, is the state agenda; where rich Muslim culture and heritage is being destroyed and history being re-written; where the Citizenship Amendment Act aims to purge India of its Muslim minority; where Hijab is banned; where anti-Muslim social media trolls of “Corona Jihad” rule the internet; where the ruling RSS-BJP leaders call Muslims “termites” and the “green virus”;where houses and shops of Muslims are being bulldozed; and where derogatory remarks against Holy prophet (PBUH) are being made by top leadership of RSS-BJP dispensation as a matter of state policy to hurt feelings and sentiments of not only Indian Muslims but also billions of Muslims across the world.

She said that other minorities in India, including Christians, Sikhs and Dalits, also face persecution and churches and gurdwaras are torched by Hindu fundamentalists.

She said that the Indian delegation would do well to reflect on the deeply troubling trajectory their state is embarked upon, rather than deploying weapons of mass disinformation against Pakistan.

“Let me emphasize that no quantum of brutality of Indian occupation forces can break the will and courage of the Kashmiris to demand freedom from occupation. Like Martin Luther King, the Kashmiris also have a “dream” that they shall see the dawn of freedom one day” Saima Saleem concluded.