After India asked it to “give up terrorism” and sit for talks, Pakistan has asserted that “core” issue of Jammu and Kashmir will always be on top of the agenda of any bilateral dialogue.
It alleged that India was using the “terrorism bogey” to stall dialogue. Pakistan also blamed India for the unrest and terror on its soil, saying it has handed over to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dossiers in this regard.
Pakistan exercised its Right of Reply to respond to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s address at the UN General Assembly yesterday in which she had said that instead of the four-point peace initiative proposed by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, it should address just “one issue” of giving up terrorism.
“Using the terrorism bogey, India has not only stalled the bilateral dialogue but also vitiated the overall atmosphere between the two countries,” Counselor in Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN Bilal Ahmad alleged.
“The core issue of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be cast aside by empty rhetoric. It has been and will always be on top of the agenda of any talks between India and Pakistan.
“…It is therefore disingenuous of India to ignore the serious peace initiative proposed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan from this august forum,” he said.
He informed the UN General Assembly that Pakistan has on Thursday handed over to the UN Secretary-General dossiers containing, what it called, “evidence” of alleged Indian involvement.
He said the dossiers include details of alleged “Indian interference and support for terrorism in Balochistan and Karachi as well as its security and intelligence agencies’ link with the Tehrike-e-Taliban especially in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas)”.
A day after Sharif raked up the Kashmir issue at the UN, Swaraj used the same forum to raise the issue of “illegal occupation of parts of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir” by Pakistan and said terror attacks from there are engineered to legitimise it.
