"Don't Need Lessons On Rights From Failed State": India Slams Pak At UN

United Nations: India has pummelled "failed state" Pakistan for trying to drag in the Kashmir issue at the United Nations for a second day in a row. On Thursday, Pakistan had argued about a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, and a day later again tried to raise the issue.

Demolishing Pakistan's arguments, India gave a long list of transgressions that Pakistan has refused to admit, from Osama Bin Laden found hiding on its soil to terrorists accused in the Mumbai attacks roaming freely in the country.

"The world does not need lessons on democracy and human rights from a country whose own situation is charitably described as a failed state," Mini Devi Kumam, Second Secretary at India's UN Mission in Geneva, said. "Even as terrorists thrive in Pakistan and roam its streets with impunity, we have heard it lecture about the protection of human rights in India," she said.

India said it is waiting for "credible action by the government of Pakistan to bring all those involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack and the 2016 Pathankot and Uri attacks to justice."

Ms Kumam was responding to Tahir Andrabi, Pakistan's UN Deputy Permanent Representative in Geneva, who on Friday alluded to former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to make his case for a plebiscite in Kashmir.

The Pakistani diplomat said that at the heart of the Kashmir problem is the right to self-determination, which he claimed was mentioned by "the first Prime Minister of India, one of the founding fathers of India" and by the UN Security Council.

Pakistan has often referred to UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir to push its agenda.
 "However, it (Pakistan) very conveniently forgets its own obligation under these resolutions to first vacate the illegal occupation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. It has also blatantly disregarded its other commitments... they continue to support cross-border terrorism in India," Ms Kumam said.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and former Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had agreed in the Simla Agreement of 1972 that the two countries would look at the Kashmir issue as a bilateral matter, which cannot call for the involvement of a third party for negotiations.

"It is extraordinary that the state which protected Osama Bin Laden and sheltered Mullah Omar should have the gumption to play the victim," Ms Kumam said in the United Nations.

UN-designated terrorists, among them Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, are "freely operating with state support, and the UN designated entities are being politically mainstreamed in Pakistan," she added. On Wednesday, a court in Pakistan extended a stay against the "possible arrest" of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed till April 4.

The Pakistani diplomat accused India of "crimes against humanity" in Kashmir and of escalating ceasefire violations along the Line of Control. But in less than 24 hours since that statement, the Indian Army reported firing by Pakistani forces at Krishna Ghati sector in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch.

"The real problem in the state of Jammu and Kashmir is terrorism, which has constantly received sustenance from Pakistan and territories under its control," Ms Kumam said.

In January, a chargesheet was filed against Hafiz Saeed for funding terrorist groups to create trouble in Jammu and Kashmir. Eleven others were also named in the chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency in a Delhi court.

In February, Hafiz Saeed had openly dared the Pakistani government to arrest him. "If the Pakistani government wants to arrest me... come and go for it but I will not stop dedicating 2018 for Kashmiris," the terrorist said at a rally in Lahore.

With inputs from IANS