India slams Pak at Commonwealth Foreign Ministers meeting for lifting of Kashmir. (Representative)
New Delhi:
India ridiculed Pakistan at a virtual meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers on Wednesday, calling it a promoter of state terrorism “masquerading as an alleged victim of the threat.”
Without directly naming Pakistan, India also referred to the questionable distinction of the neighboring country of becoming synonymous with the term “epicenter of terrorism” and of hosting the largest number of terrorists banned by the United Nations.
The strong reaction from Foreign Ministry Secretary (West) Vikas Swarup came at the meeting after Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi alleged that a South Asian state is stoking the hyper nationalism to “conceive” an illegal demographic change, in reference to Kashmir.
Mr Swarup represented Foreign Minister S Jaishankar at the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers Meeting.
“When we heard them declaim a South Asian state, we wondered why it was describing itself? And it’s no surprise that it came from a globally recognized promoter of state terrorism posing as a alleged victim of the same, ”Mr Swarup said.
“We heard it from a country that caused genocide in South Asia 49 years ago when it killed its own people,” he said.
Mr Swarup also said it is the same country that has the dubious distinction of becoming synonymous with the term “epicenter of terrorism” and hosting the largest number of terrorists banned by the UN.
“The only remaining dispute in what he claims today is his own illegal occupation of parts, which he will sooner or later have to evacuate,” he said.
Mr Swarup also criticized Pakistan for denying the rights of indigenous minorities. “For such a country to preach hypocritically about minority religious groups elsewhere, while flouting the rights of its own indigenous minorities, was indeed very unfortunate and a blatant abuse of this august platform,” Swarup said.
In his speech, Qureshi said that while the world remains concerned about the coronavirus pandemic, a South Asian state is targeting its religious minorities in order to foment division and hatred among community groups.
In his remarks, Mr Swarup said it was unfortunate that the meeting had been misused by one of the South Asian member states to pursue its “own sectarian, ill-conceived, narrow and one-sided agenda on a multilateral platform “.
He also spoke about India’s help to various countries to deal with COVID-19 and said that as the world grapples with the economic and social fallout from the pandemic, the core values and principles of the Commonwealth were becoming more relevant than ever.
“India has already demonstrated that it can be a reliable partner for the world. Despite our severe repercussions, we have kept our supply chains open during this pandemic and provided medicines and equipment to over 150 countries,” Mr Swarup said.
“This has only added to India’s reputation as a pharmacy in the world. As we move towards the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, India (which accounts for 60% of the global vaccine production) has already committed its vaccine production and delivery capacity to help the world tackle this crisis, ”he said.
Mr Swarup also congratulated all members of the group for adopting a declaration on racism.
“Finally, as we adopt the Commonwealth Declaration on Racism today, I would like to commend all members for this effort to combat racism and racial discrimination,” he said.
It is also important to take solid and comprehensive steps to implement a zero tolerance policy against racism and ensure stricter actions against perpetrators, he added.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
