India slams Pakistan at UN, calls it 'Terroristan'

NEW DELHI: India on Friday went hammer and tongs at Pakistan for its policy of sponsoring terrorism and said the country has now become "Terroristan", or a land of "pure terror".
"Pakistan is now 'Terroristan', with a flourishing industry producing and exporting global terrorism," India said while exercising its 'right of reply' at the United Nations General Assembly.
Taking a dig at the prefix "Pak", which means "pure" in Urdu, India said Pakistan has long abandoned its aspirations to be moral and virtuous as a nation and instead, its name has become synonymous with terror.
"The quest for a land of pure has actually produced 'the land of pure terror'. In its short history, Pakistan has become a geography synonymous with terror," India's first secretary to the UN Eenam Gambhir said.
Citing the example of Hafiz Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist who has floated a political party to contest the next general election in Pakistan, India underscored how the neighbouring country was providing safe havens to terror leaders in its military town or protecting them with political careers.
India's statement was in response to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's maiden speech at the UNGA on Thursday, in which he had defended terrorism and once again sought to highlight the bilateral dispute of Kashmir between the two countries at an international forum.
India pointed out that raising the Kashmir issue has been a long-established tactic of Pakistan to deflect attention from the terror outfits it harbours on its soil.
"It is extraordinary that the state which protected Osama Bin Laden and sheltered Mullah Omar should have the gumption to play the victim. By now, all Pakistan's neighbours are painfully familiar with these tactics to create a narrative based on distortions, deceptions and deceit," Gambhir said.
Abbasi had demanded an international investigation into the alleged atrocities in Kashmir and sending of an inquiry commission to the restive state in order to secure the punishment of those "responsible of human rights violation" and provide justice and relief to victims.
Issuing another stern warning to Pakistan to refrain from interfering in Kashmir, India said it doesn't require lessons on democracy and human rights from a "failed state" where "terrorists thrive and roam the streets with impunity."
"Pakistan must understand that the state of Jammu and Kashmir is and will always remain an integral part of India. However much it scales up cross border terrorism, it will never succeed in undermining India's territorial integrity," Gambhir said.
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