Mijito Vinito  

In exercising India’s ‘Right of Reply’ to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks during the UN General Assembly debate on Friday, Indian diplomat Mijito Vinito called Mr. Khan’s remarks “an incessant rant”. India also said the only dispute in Kashmir is related to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and called on Pakistan to vacate it.

The response said Mr. Khan had “no reasonable suggestion to offer the world” and his speech was about “lies, misinformation, war mongering and malice.”

“The words used today at this great Assembly by the leader of Pakistan demean the very essence of the UN. For a nation that is deeply buried in medievalism, it is understandable that the tenets of a modern civilized society such as peace, dialogue and diplomacy are far-fetched,” Mr. Vinito, First Secretary at India’s UN mission, said.

Mr. Khan, in his speech earlier on Friday, had talked about India’s treatment of its minorities, legislative changes to Jammu and Kashmir, Indian troop presence there, etc. Mr. Vinito had left the General Assembly hall as Mr. Khan’s video address began, as a gesture of India’s protestations against it.

“There will be no durable peace and stability in South Asia until the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is resolved on the basis of international legitimacy. Kashmir has been rightly described as a nuclear flashpoint,” Mr. Khan had said. “The Security Council must prevent a disaster conflict and secure the implementation of its own resolutions, as it did in the case of East Timor,” he had said.

“I want to make it clear that any attempt by the fascist, totalitarian, RSS-led Indian Government to aggress against Pakistan will be met by a nation that that will fight for its freedom to the end,” Mr. Khan had said.

Integral part

Mr. Vinito said in India’s response: “Let me assert here loud and clear. The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of India. The rules and legislations brought in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir are strictly internal affairs of India.”

“The only dispute left in Kashmir relates to that part of Kashmir that is still under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. We call upon Pakistan to vacate all those areas that it is in illegal occupation of.” [In September 2019, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had said India expects to have physical jurisdiction over PoK].

“This is the country that has systematically cleansed its minorities, including Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and others, through the abuse of its blasphemy laws and through forced religious conversions,” Mr. Vinito said.

During his speech, Mr. Khan had talked about Islamophobia around the world, but also made a specific reference to India having “state-sponsored” Islamophobia. “The RSS founding fathers were inspired by the Nazis and they adopted their concepts of racial purity and supremacy. While the Nazis hate was directed at the Jews, the RSS directs it towards the Muslims and to a lesser extent, the Christians. They believe that India is exclusively for Hindus and others are not equal citizens. The secularism of Gandhi and Nehru has been replaced by the dream of creating a Hindu rashtra...” Mr. Khan had said in his speech.

He also referred to the fact that Muslims were killed in 2002 in Gujarat when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s was the State’s Chief Minister.

“For someone who professes to be a champion of Islam, this is also a country that has encouraged killing of fellow Muslims merely because they belonged to a different sect, or to a different region in Pakistan, and through sponsoring terrorist attacks against its neighbours,” Mr. Vinito said, responding to Mr. Khan’s speech.

The Indian diplomat also highlighted the Pakistan deep state’s “unrelenting political and financial support” to terror organisations. He also referred to Mr. Khan referring to 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden as a martyr earlier this year.

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