Pakistan denounces Indian minister's 'strange' speech at UN
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Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj addresses the United Nations General Assembly in the Manhattan.
Islamabad - Pakistan responded by calling Swaraj's speech a "litany of falsehoods" that distorted history, and denied its forces had aided the army base attack.
Islamabad has branded an address by India's foreign minister to the UN in which she accused Pakistan of terrorism in Kashmir as a "litany of falsehoods". Tensions between the longtime rivals have spiked over a recent attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir that New Delhi has blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said:
"Pakistan remains in denial. It persists in the belief that such attacks will enable it to obtain the territory it covets. "My firm advice to Pakistan is: abandon this dream. Let me state unequivocally that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain so."
The Indian army has blamed the latest attack, in which 18 soldiers and four attackers were killed, on the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad. Watch: Sushma Swaraj's takedown of Pakistan at UN The group was also implicated in an audacious attack in January on an Indian air force base in Pathankot in the northern state of Punjab, that left seven soldiers dead. Major attacks in Jammu and Kashmir since 1999 Pakistan responded by calling Swaraj's speech a "litany of falsehoods" that distorted history, and denied its forces had aided the army base attack. A statement by Pakistan foreign office released on Monday said:
"These allegations are designed principally to deflect global attention from the brutalities being perpetrated by India's over half a million occupation force against innocent and unarmed Kashmiri children, women and men." "Jammu and Kashmir never was and can never be an integral part of India. It is a disputed territory, the final status of which has yet to be determined in accordance with several resolutions of the UN Security Council."
More than 80 people have been killed in ongoing unrest in Kashmir since July 8 when a young militant leader was shot dead by Indian soldiers, sparking one of the deadliest bouts of violence to hit the region in decades.
#71stUNGA India trying to divert world attention from its atrocities on defenceless Kashmiris in IOK but her efforts will not succeed - SpokespersonMOFA (@ForeignOfficePk) September 26, 2016
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#71stUNGA Can Indian EAM explain that if Kashmir is an " integral part of India, why is it on the Agenda of Security Council?" - SpokespersonMOFA (@ForeignOfficePk) September 26, 2016
#71stUNGA Strange that Indian EAM is disowning the UN SC resolutions and that too at the UN - SpokespersonMOFA (@ForeignOfficePk) September 26, 2016
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