By: Arul Louis
Indian diplomat Mijito Vinito said that peace is possible in the sub-continent only when Pakistan stops cross-border terrorism, "comes clean" and ends persecution of minorities.
Replying to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's attacks on India at the high-level UN General Assembly meeting on Friday, Vinito disputed his claims about wanting peace with New Delhi pointing out that Islamabad's actions do not match his words.
He zoomed in on Islamabad's history of terrorism and said: "A polity that claims it seeks peace with its neighbors would never sponsor cross-border terrorism, nor would it shelter planners of the horrific Mumbai terrorist attack, disclosing their existence only under pressure from the international community."
Hafiz Saeed, leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba who masterminded the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack in which about 175 people died, is living openly in Pakistan, as is another operative involved in the attack, Sajid Mir.
A country that truly seeks peace "would not make unjustified and untenable territorial claims against neighbors, it would not covet their lands and seek to illegally integrate them with its own", Vinito said referring to Pakistan's continued occupation of parts of Kashmir in violation of Security Council Resolution 47 of 1948, which ordered it to withdraw its troops and nationals from there.
Vinito, who is from the 2010 Indian Foreign Service batch and is the first secretary in India's UN mission, drove his stinging responses home with a calm demeanor.
Exercising India's right of reply, he countered Sharif's claims about the treatment of minorities in India and held a mirror to Pakistan's record.
"It is not just about the neighborhood that we have heard false claims today, it is about human rights, about minority rights, and basic decencies.
"When young women in the thousands from the minority community are abducted as an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), what can we conclude about the underlying mindset?" he asked.
According to the Human Rights Council of Pakistan, Hindu and Christian girls are victims of kidnapping and forced marriages.
"The desire for peace, security, and progress in the Indian subcontinent is real. It is also widely shared and it can be realized," Vinito said.
"That will surely happen when cross-border terrorism ceases, when governments come clean with the international community and with their people, when minorities are not persecuted, and not least when we recognize these realities before this Assembly."
In his speech at the Assembly, Sharif had claimed that he wanted peace and offered to speak to India's leaders, but only after New Delhi gives in to his demands.
The premier said he wanted to turn the page on the 20th century and take on the challenges of the 21st century but quickly went back 75 years raking up the Kashmir dispute, attacking the withdrawal of special constitutional status for that territory. (KB/IANS)
