India's response at the United Nations took aim at Pakistan's remarks on terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, democratic rights and minority issues, with First Secretary at India's Permanent Mission to the UN Petal Gahlot delivering a sharp right-of-reply in New York.
Responding to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's speech, Gahlot accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism and rejected its references to Jammu and Kashmir. She also questioned Pakistan's record on democracy, human rights and religious intolerance, while referring to the country's 27th Amendment and what she described as lifelong immunity for its "real ruler". The statements below are Gahlot's characterisations and allegations in her right of reply.
India on terrorism and Pakistan
Gahlot said the central issue was what she described as Pakistan's "long-standing practice of cross-border terrorism". Referring to India's response to terrorism last year, she said terrorists had "nowhere to run and nowhere to hide".
"Our right to defend ourselves against terrorism will be exercised and continued," Gahlot said, adding, "Terrorism by Pakistan will have consequences."
She also said India expected the General Assembly to assess Pakistan and its policies on their substance rather than on what she called the claims made by its representative.
"We are confident that this Assembly will recognize Pakistan and its policies for what they really are, not what its representative mendaciously projects it to be," she said. "Reiterating falsehoods year after year does not make them true."
Gahlot further accused Pakistan of using "terrorism, deceit and duplicity", saying these would "neither benefit it nor the world".
Gahlot raises Jammu and Kashmir issue
Responding to references made to Jammu and Kashmir, Gahlot said India's position was that the Union Territory was an "integral and inalienable part" of the country.
She then shifted the focus to Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, asking the Assembly to consider the situation there.
"But if we must talk about Kashmir, let us turn our attention to the Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir," she said, before referring to what she described as "wanton killings, the brutal violence and the denial of basic rights" experienced by people in the region.
India questions Pakistan's democratic record
Gahlot also hit back at Pakistan's comments on democratic rights and human values. She described the remarks as "hypocritical homilies" and questioned the political system in Pakistan.
"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," she said.
Gahlot then accused Pakistan of being "a regime of the army, by the army, and for the army", arguing that political figures may change but, in her characterisation, the military remains the decisive authority.
"Their puppets may come and go, but let us have no illusion about who calls the shots," she said.
She linked her argument to Pakistan's 27th Amendment, referring to what she described as "the lifelong immunity granted to its real ruler".
India hits back over religious intolerance remarks
Gahlot also responded to Pakistan's references to religious intolerance. She said such comments came from what she described as a record of "bigotry and hatred".
"They claim to uphold security during the day; they actually carry out terrorism at night," she said.
She also referred to Pakistan's blasphemy laws and treatment of minorities, saying: "The world knows how minorities are treated in Pakistan. No pious platitude can mislead it."
Gahlot then returned to Pakistan's remarks at the General Assembly, describing them as "bizarre" and linking them to the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
"This afternoon, the General Assembly heard some bizarre remarks from the representative of Pakistan," she said. Gahlot noted that this came a fortnight after New York City and the world marked 25 years since the "horrendous 9-11 terrorist attack".
She brought up Osama bin Laden's presence in Pakistan, saying he had been living "right on the doorstep of the Pakistani Army's premier academy". She also referred to the Pakistani representative's praise of that institution and concluded by describing Pakistan as what she said Pakistanis themselves call a "Form 47 government".
