Citizens of India do not need anyone else to speak on their behalf: India's reply to Pak PM Imran Khan at UNGA

Exercising India's right of reply to Pakistan Prime Minsiter Imran Khan's speech, MEA First Secretary Vidisha Maitra today said, "Citizens of India do not need anyone else to speak on their behalf, least of all those who have built an industry of terrorism from the ideology of hate," adding that “PM Imran Khan's threat of unleashing nuclear devastation qualifies as brinkmanship, not statesmanship.” 

The first Secretary MEA exercises India's right of reply to Pakistan PM Imran Khan's speech at the Unites Nations, saying "Will Pakistan acknowledge that it is the only government in the world that provides pension to an individual listed by the UN in the Al-Qaeda and Daesh sanctions list?"

"Now that PM Imran Khan has invited UN observers to Pakistan to verify that there are no militant organisations in Pakistan the world will hold him to that promise, said Vidisha Maitra, adding "Can Pakistan PM confirm that it is home to 130 UN designated terrorists and 25 terrorist entities listed by the UN?"

In a hard hitting reply, she said "Pogroms, PM Imran Khan Niazi, are not a phenomenon of today’s vibrant democracies. We would request you to refresh your rather sketchy understanding of history. Do not forget the gruesome genocide perpetrated by Pakistan against its own people in 1971."

"Will Pakistan deny that Financial Action Task Force has put the country on notice for its violations of more than 20 of the 27 key parameters? And would PM Imran Khan deny to the city of New York that he was an open defender of Osama bin Laden?" the MEA First Secretary asked.

Vidisha Maitra rebutted the Pak PM by saying that Pakistan is country "that has shrunk the size of its minority community from 23% in 1947 to 3% today and has subjected Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadiyas, Hindus, Shias, Pashtuns, Sindhis and Balochis to draconian blasphemy laws, systemic persecution, blatant abuse and forced conversions." 

"The mainstreaming of Jammu & Kashmir, as well as Ladakh, in India’s thriving and vibrant democracy with a millennia-old heritage of diversity, pluralism and tolerance is well and truly underway. Irreversibly so," she added.

Expressing surprise over Pak PM speech, Vidisha Maitra said, "For someone who was once a cricketer and believed in the gentleman’s game, today’s speech bordered on crudeness of the variety that is reminiscent of the guns of Darra Adam Khel."

Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Imran Khan both spoke at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday, amid tensions between the two countries in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370.

PM Modi exhorted the world community to stand united against terrorism, Imran Khan devoted a significant part of his maiden address to the Kashmir issue, demanding that India must lift the “inhuman curfew” and release all “political prisoners”.

In his UNGA address, PM Modi said the world was witnessing a “new era” with modern technological advances, and elaborated upon the various welfare schemes being implement India like ‘Clean India Mission’, ‘Ayushman Bharat’ and Aadhaar initiative.

The Prime Minister emphasised before the world that he had been voted back to power by an overwhelming mandate in which 600 million people had voted, the largest such election anywhere in the world, to stress the massive mandate he had got, thus conveying to the world that his every move had the backing of the people.

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He also about the development works his government has brought about since 2014, when he was first voted to power, from Swachh Bharat, building 11 crore toilets, free healthcare for 50 crore people, the Jan Dhan Yojana for linking people to bank accounts, Digital India, to bringing potable water to the people, to tell the world about the inclusiveness of his governance.