'Cross-Border Terrorism Will Inevitably Invite Consequences': India Warns Pakistan At UN General Assembly

India on Saturday (28 September) issued a strong warning to the Pakistan at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), saying that Islamabad's continued support for cross-border terrorism will "inevitably invite consequences".

India's stern response came after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raised Jammu and Kashmir issue during his UNGA speech.

During his speech, Sharif called for India to reverse its 2019 abrogation of Article 370, which revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and demanded a dialogue between the two countries.

Referring to Pakistan PM's speech as a 'travesty", India's First Secretary to the UN, Bhavika Mangalanandan accused Islamabad of being involved in global terrorism.

"This Assembly regrettably witnessed a travesty this morning. A country, run by the military, with a global reputation for terrorism, narcotics trade and transnational crime has had the audacity to attack the world’s largest democracy. I speak about the references to India in the speech of the Pakistani PM," the First Secretary said.

"As the world knows, Pakistan has long employed cross-border terrorism as a weapon against its neighbours. It has attacked our Parliament, our financial capital Mumbai, market places and pilgrimage routes. The list is long. For such a country to speak about violence anywhere is hypocrisy at its worst," she added.

Mangalanandan also highlighted Pakistan's history of rigged elections.

“It is even more extraordinary for a country with a history of rigged elections to talk about political choices, that too in a democracy,” she stated.

"The real truth is that Pakistan covets our territory. And in fact, has continuously used terrorism to disrupt elections in Jammu and Kashmir, an inalienable and integral part of India," she added.

"A reference has been made to some proposal of strategic restraint. There can be no compact with terrorism. In fact, Pakistan should realize that cross-border terrorism against India will inevitably invite consequences," she said.

Referring to the atrocities committed by Pakistan Army in Bangladesh during 1971 war, the First Secretary said, "It is ridiculous that a nation that committed genocide in 1971 and which persecutes its minorities relentlessly even now dare speak about intolerance and phobias".

"The world can see for itself what Pakistan really is," she added.

 Mangalanandan said Pakistan's "fingerprints" are on many terrorist incidents across the world.

"Perhaps it should come as no surprise that its prime minister would so speak in this hallowed hall. Yet we must make clear how unacceptable his words are to all of us. We know that Pakistan will seek to counter the truth with more lies. Repetition will change nothing. Our stand is clear and needs no reiteration," she said.

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