New Delhi: A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan threatened nuclear war while speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, India said that such threats qualified as brinksmanship, not statesmanship.
Using its Right of Reply to Mr Khan’s speech on Friday, India said Pakistan was venturing into hate speech while India focused on mainstreaming development in Jammu and Kashmir.
Perhaps for the first time, India referred to the Pakistan Prime Minister by his full name, Imran Khan Niazi, and spoke of the role of Lt. Gen A.A.K. Niazi in former East Pakistan.
Indian diplomat, Vidisha Maitra, said: “Every word spoken from the podium of this august assembly, it is believed, carries the weight of history. Unfortunately, what we heard today from Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan was a callous portrayal of the world in binary terms. Us vs Them; Rich vs Poor; North vs South; Developed vs Developing; Muslims vs Others. A script that fosters divisiveness at the United Nations. Attempts to sharpen differences and stir up hatred, are simply put — ‘hate speech’.”
The diplomat said that rarely has the General Assembly witnessed “such misuse, rather abuse”, of an opportunity to reflect. “Words matter in diplomacy. Invocation of phrases such as ‘pogrom’, ‘bloodbath’, ‘racial superiority’, ‘pick up the gun’ and ‘fight to the end’ reflect a medieval mindset and not a 21st century vision. Prime Minister Khan’s threat of unleashing nuclear devastation qualifies as brinksmanship, not statesmanship,” Ms Maitra said.
She added that such words were coming from the leader of a country that has monopolised the value chain of the :industry of terrorism”.
“Prime Minister Khan’s justification of terrorism was brazen and incendiary,” she said.
The diplomat taunted Mr Khan for the contrast in his personality now as a politician compared to what he was as a cricketer. “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. Now that Prime Minister 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,” she said.
