Saima Saleem, Pakistan’s Permanent Mission Counsellor on Human Rights, has unequivocally asked India to desist from state terrorism and enter into serious dialogue.
Saima made this comment in reaction to India’s statement during the open debate at the UN Security Council. She stated that India has again used false data, diversion and denial.
No amount of obfuscation can conceal facts, India openly kills and maims innocent civilians in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), has pursued naked aggression against Pakistan with a view to targeting civilians and patronizes terrorism and assassinations in my country and globally,” the counsellor informed the 15-member council.
Referring to the Modi government’s unilateral abrogation of the Indus Waters Treaty following the Pahalgam incident, she stated India had even sunk so low as to block the flow of rivers that are a lifeline for the 240 million people of Pakistan. Water is not a weapon of war, she further stated.
Referring to the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and a plot on the life of Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh in the US, Saima reminded the Security Council that India patronizes terrorism and target killings not just in Pakistan but globally.
Pakistan Demands Justice and Peace in Kashmir
She added that Pakistan and the international community had condemned the Pahalgam incident.
If India had nothing to hide, it would have accepted credible, impartial and independent investigations into the incident,” the Pakistani delegate stated. “On the contrary” she continued, “India continues to subject people of IIOJK to state-sponsored terrorism to crush their legitimate freedom struggle.
This gave rise to a brief conflict between the nuclear-armed neighboring nations, which eventually ended with intervention by the United States, as claimed by US President Donald Trump.
On 21 May, a despicable attack on a school bus in Khuzdar district of Balochistan killed innocent children and injured dozens.
She further stated if India is really serious about peace and security and good neighbourliness, it must put an end to its state-sponsored terrorism, stop oppressing the Kashmiris, abide by its international law obligations, UN Charter and bilateral treaties, and exercise serious diplomacy for the peaceful settlement of the IIOJK dispute as per relevant Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
