Kashmir will always remain an integral part India: Sushma Swaraj tells Pak

United Nations: In a sharp rebuke to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's “tirade” on Kashmir, India on Monday said Kashmir is an integral part India and will always remain so.

Those accusing others of rights violations must introspect, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in her address at the 71st UN General Assembly session, as she censured Pakistan for perpetrating the "worst form of state oppression" in Balochistan.

Taking a veiled dig at Pakistan, Swaraj said there are nations "in our midst" where UN-designated terrorists roam freely and deliver "their poisonous sermons of hate with impunity", an apparent reference to Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.

She also made a strong pitch for isolating such nations who speak the language of terrorism and for whom sheltering terrorists has become "their calling card".

"In our midst, there are nations that still speak the language of terrorism, that nurture it, peddle it, and export it. To shelter terrorists has become their calling card. We must identify these nations and hold them to account," Swaraj asserted in her nearly 20-minute speech.

"These nations, in which UN-designated terrorists roam freely, lead processions and deliver their poisonous sermons of hate with impunity, are as culpable as the very terrorists they harbour. Such countries should have no place in the comity of nations," Swaraj said.

In a strong rebuttal of the "baseless allegations" made by Sharif from the podium of the General Assembly about human rights violations by India in Kashmir, Swaraj said, "I can only say that those accusing others of human rights violations would do well to introspect and see what egregious abuses they are perpetrating in their own country, including in Balochistan. The brutality against the Baloch people represents the worst form of state oppression."

Countering Pakistan's claims that India has imposed pre-conditions on talks, Swaraj said India got the terror attacks of Pathankot and Uri "in return" for taking the initiative to resolve issues with Islamabad not on the basis of conditions but on friendship.

She told Pakistan to "abandon this dream" of obtaining Kashmir, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir is an "integral part of India and will always remain so".

"It (Pakistan) persists in the belief that such attacks will enable it to obtain the territory it covets," Swaraj said, adding that their plans will not succeed.

In her address, Swaraj said India has attempted an unprecedented "paradigm of friendship" with Pakistan over the last years, which has included wishing the Pakistani leader on the festival of Eid, wishing success to the his cricket team and extending good wishes for his health. In return, she said for these gestures, India got the terror attacks in Uri and Pathankot.

“We took the initiative to resolve issues not on the basis of conditions, but on the basis of friendship! We have in fact attempted a paradigm of friendship in the last two years which is without precedent.
‘We offered Eid greetings and got Pathankot, Uri in return’

"We conveyed Eid greetings to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, wished success to his cricket team, extended good wishes for his health and well being. Did all this come with pre-conditions attached," Swaraj said.

"And what did we get in return? Pathankot, Bahadur Ali and Uri. Bahadur Ali is a terrorist in our custody, whose confession is a living proof of Pakistan's complicity in cross-border terror," she added.

Her speech came just over a week after 18 Indian jawans were killed in a deadly attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists from across the border on an army base in Kashmir's Uri.

Launching a blistering attack on Pakistan, Modi on Saturday warned Pakistan that the Uri terror attack will not be forgotten and the sacrifice of the jawans will not go in vain.

In early January this year, two security personnel were killed when a group of heavily armed militants attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station.

Ali, a Pakistani national allegedly working for terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba who hails from Jahama village of Raiwind in Lahore, was arrested from a village in north Kashmir on July 25.

The Army had found three AK-47 rifles, two pistols and Rs 23,000 in his possession. Ali was allegedly trained at a Lashkar camp in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Swaraj asserted that when confronted with such evidence, Pakistan "remains in denial".

In a speech in Kozhikode on Saturday, his first public address after the Uri incident, Modi had said that India will intensify its efforts so that Pakistan is completely isolated.

Swaraj asserted that terrorism deeply concerns every member of the UN General Assembly, with people from New York, Kabul, Uri and Istanbul bearing the brunt of the growing scourge.

"We have suffered in Uri recently and understand the pain inflicted by the same forces. The world has been battling this scourge for long. However, despite the blood and tears of innocent victims, attacks this year alone in Kabul and Dhaka, Istanbul and Mogadishu, Brussels and Bangkok, Paris, Pathankot and Uri as well as daily barbaric tragedies in Syria and Iraq, remind us that these malevolent forces are yet to be defeated," she said.

Swaraj underlined that the international community must acknowledge that terrorism is undoubtedly the biggest violation of human rights and is a crime against humanity.

"It targets the innocent and kills indiscriminately.

Terrorism has gone way beyond affecting individuals or nations -- it is a crime against humanity itself. But it is important to ask -- who is behind this and who benefits from it?

Terrorists do not own banks or weapons factories, so let us ask the real question: who finances these terrorists, who arms them and provides sanctuaries?" she said, adding that Afghanistan too had raised similar concerns on terror financing and safe havens from the UNGA podium.

There is only one way to defeat terrorism and that is to "unite across our differences, add steel to our resolve and inject urgency in our response," she said.

Nations must forget their prejudices and join hands together to script an effective strategy against terror, Swaraj stressed.

"This is not an impossible task provided we have the will.