Sushma Swaraj slams Pak at UN meet for glorifying terrorists

Describing terrorism as the second existential threat to humanity after climate change, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday launched one of the most scathing attacks on Pakistan in recent times, saying it is an expert not just in spawning grounds for terrorism but also in its attempts to “mask malevolence with verbal duplicity”.Speaking at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, Swaraj said it had become something of a habit with Pakistan to throw the “dust of deceit and deception” at India in order to provide a thin cover for its own guilt. The minister said Pakistan’s commitment to terrorism as an instrument of official policy had not abated one bit.Anticipating allegations of human rights violations in J&K by her counterpart Shah M Qureshi, who was scheduled to speak later in the evening, Swaraj said there was no greater transgressor of human rights than a terrorist.In her speech, Swaraj described Pakistan as a defender of inhuman behaviour, not of human rights.“Those who take innocent human lives in pursuit of war by other means are defenders of inhuman behaviour, not of human rights. Pakistan glorifies killers; it refuses to see the blood of innocents,’’ she said.“The United Nations has seen this before. Last year, Pakistan’s representative, using her right to reply, displayed some photographs as ‘proof’ of ‘human rights violations’ by India. The photographs turned out to be from another country. Similar false accusations have become a part of its standard rhetoric,’’ she added.Swaraj also spoke in detail on the most recent dialogue initiative describing as a lie Pakistan’s contention that India was responsible for the collapse of talks. She said while India believed talks were the only rational means to resolve the most complex of disputes, it was only because of Pakistan’s behaviour that these had to be stopped.“Please explain to me how we could pursue talks in the midst of terrorist bloodshed? Even now, after the new government came to power, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan wrote to Prime Minister Modi suggesting a meeting between foreign ministers in New York. We accepted the proposal. But, within hours of our acceptance, news came that terrorists had killed three of our jawans. Does this indicate a desire for dialogue?’’ said Swaraj.The minister said there had been many governments in India, by many different parties, which had tried the peace option. She recalled how Prime Minister Modi, by inviting the heads of SAARC nations to his swearing-in ceremony, began his attempt for dialogue on his very first day in office.“On 9th December 2016, I personally went to Islamabad and offered a comprehensive bilateral dialogue. But soon after, Pak-sponsored terrorists attacked our air force base in Pathankot on 2nd January,’’ she said.“The demon of terrorism now stalks the world, at a faster pace somewhere, a slower pace elsewhere, but life-threatening everywhere. In our case, terrorism is bred not in some faraway land, but across our border to the west,’’ said Swaraj.The most startling evidence of Pakistan’s duplicity, Swaraj said, was the fact that Osama bin Laden, the architect and ideologue of 9/11 was given safe haven in that country. She recalled how America had declared Osama bin Laden its most dangerous enemy, and launched an exhaustive, worldwide search to bring him to justice. “What America perhaps could not comprehend was that Osama would get sanctuary in a country that claimed to be America’s friend and ally: Pakistan. Eventually, America’s intelligence services discovered the truth of this hypocrisy, and its special forces delivered justice. But Pakistan continued to behave as if nothing had happened,’’ she said.“The killers of 9/11 met their fate; but the mastermind of 26/11, Hafiz Saeed, still roams the streets of Pakistan with impunity,” she added.“What is heartening is that the world is no longer ready to believe Islamabad. FATF, for instance, has put Pakistan on notice over terror funding,’’ she said.