"Vituperative Mudslinging": Shashi Tharoor Roasts Pak On Kashmir

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, part of an Indian delegation at an international forum, lashed out at Pakistan after it raised Jammu and Kashmir yet again. It is ironic, Mr Tharoor said, that a state responsible for countless cross-border terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir is trying to "masquerade as a champion of Kashmiris".

At the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global forum for political multilateral negotiations, held in Serbia, Pakistan had claimed it was unable to host the APA session in December because of the developments in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a tweet, Mr Tharoor said, "I was obliged on behalf of the Indian delegation to respond to a vitriolic outburst by Pakistan's delegate at the @IPUparliament".

The accompanying video clip was of his address at the meet, where he verbally flayed Pakistan's repeated attempts to draw attention to Jammu and Kashmir.

The next tweet read:

Unfortunately three hours later they did it again at a panel on Respect for International Law. This time i had to respond more sharply&at greater length as part of my own speech, since there was no "right of reply" &the Pak delegate was a panelist himself: https://t.co/4hbI9Acmgj

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 16, 2019

Terming Pakistan's comments "vituperative mudslinging", Mr Tharoor said, "We will fight our own battles democratically and don't need or welcome interference from across the border".

"Pakistan is the only government in the world that provides a pension to an individual listed by the United Nations in the Al Qaeda sanctions list. Pakistan is home to 130 UN designated terrorists and 25 terrorists entities listed by the UN. It is frankly absurd to hear fulminations about respect for human rights from representative of such a state when terrorism is the worst possible destroyer of human rights," he said.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat later said "The Indian delegation rebutted baseless allegations of the Pakistani delegation about Jammu and Kashmir at two different sessions". It also shared the videos of Mr Tharoor's address.

A career diplomat, Shashi Tharoor had turned to politics after working at the United Nations for nearly 30 years.

Last month, Pakistan had flagged the Centre's move to end Article 370 that provided special status in Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations for a second time. But its efforts fell flat as most of the member nations have accepted that it is an internal matter of India.

Admitting that Islamabad's efforts have not met with much success, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had said he was "disappointed by the international community". "There's no pressure yet on Modi... We'll keep putting the pressure," he had said.