By: KeerthiMohan
India will soar high if Pakistan “stoops low” by raising the Kashmir issue at a high-level UN General Assembly session next week, India’s top envoy to the United Nations has asserted, warning that Islamabad may mainstream “hate speech” after normalising terrorism in the past.
With an anticipated rant by Pakistan on Kashmir during the UNGA session, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin at a press conference on Thursday said “poison pens” don’t work for too long.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed to raise the Kashmir issue at the UNGA session on September 27. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to speak on the same day.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said Prime Minister Khan will “forcefully” raise the issue before the international community during his address to the UNGA.
“We explained to you what is our approach and what is our orientation and how we are working very differently from our previous experiences. But there may be somebody who is wanting to bring an issue which they have raised before…Your question further is that what if they become more shrill, what if they raise it in a much more sharper manner,” Akbaruddin said.
He was responding to a question on whether he expects Kashmir to be raised during the UN General Assembly session and how will India tackle it.
“What you’re telling me is that it will be more of the same, much more of the same from the side of one country. If that is so, what is our response? So let me put it this way. That it is for every country to determine its trajectory of how it wants to approach global platforms. There may be some who stoop low. Our response to them is we soar high. They may stoop low, we soar high,” he said.
Akbaruddin, who laid out the focus and priorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he arrives for the 74th UN General Assembly session, said a plethora of plurilateral and bilateral engagements and meetings next week highlight the examples of how India will soar higher.
“What they want to do is their call. We’ve seen them mainstream terrorism in the past. And what you’re now telling me is they may want to mainstream hate speech. It’s their call, if they want to do that. Poison pens don’t work for too long,” he said, making a reference to Pakistan.
“We are confident that we will soar. We have given you examples of how we will not stoop. We will soar when they stoop low,” he said.
Tension between India and Pakistan escalated after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5. Pakistan has downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and expelled the Indian High Commissioner.
Pakistan has been trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue but India has asserted that the abrogation of Article 370 was its “internal matter”. New Delhi has also asked Islamabad to accept the reality and stop its anti-India rhetoric.
(PTI)
