Pakistan grills India over allegations of terrorism

New York: A Pakistani diplomat on Friday hit back at India after an Indian delegate accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism, countering that New Delhi itself pursues state-sponsored terrorism at home and abroad.

“India’s hypocrisy stands exposed. It cannot conceal its role in funding and directing terrorism in Pakistan, its covert networks across the region, and its reign of terror in occupied Kashmir,” said Saima Saleem, Counsellor at Pakistan’s Mission to the UN, in her right of reply at the General Assembly.

Saleem rejected Indian allegations of Pakistan “glorifying terrorism,” stressing that Indian proxies such as TTP, BLA, and the Majeed Brigade have claimed thousands of lives in Pakistan. She underlined Pakistan’s sacrifices in the global fight against terror, adding that India should accept impartial investigations into incidents like Pahalgam if it had nothing to hide.

She accused New Delhi of weaponising water by undermining the Indus Waters Treaty, persecuting minorities under the RSS-BJP regime, and spreading Islamophobia both at home and abroad. “This is the face of ‘New India’: Islamophobia at home, aggression abroad, with Hindutva ideology at its core,” she said.

On Jammu and Kashmir, Saleem reiterated it has never been an integral part of India, highlighting human rights abuses, militarisation, and demographic engineering since 2019. “We will not let rhetoric distract from the core issue: the people of Jammu and Kashmir deserve justice, dignity, and their right to self-determination.”