- India elevated propaganda into statecraft: Counsellor Saima.
- Says Pakistan has lost nearly 100,000 lives to terrorism.
- IIOJK people endure decades of occupation, repression: counsellor.
Pakistan has flagged New Delhi’s “terrorist exports” beyond the region, pointing to the involvement of Indian nationals in assassination plots in the United States and Canada at the behest of Modi-led government.
Exercising its Right of Reply after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address to the UN General Assembly, India had accused Pakistan of spreading “falsehoods” and warned of consequences over what it described as “terrorism from Pakistan”.
In a reply to the Indian representative’s statement during the general debate of the 81st Session of the UNGA, Counsellor Saima Saleem termed India a state “that has elevated propaganda into statecraft, embraced disinformation as diplomacy and exports terrorism as an instrument of policy”.
“From a serving Indian naval commander, Kulbhushan Jadhav, convicted in Pakistan on terrorism and espionage charges, to Nikhil Gupta, who pleaded guilty in the United States for plotting the murder of a Sikh leader at the direction of the Indian government, and others implicated in assassinations carried out in Canada, India’s record speaks for itself,” she said.
New Delhi exports terrorism and violence while trying to import victimhood and sympathy, she added.
According to Saima, Pakistan has lost nearly 100,000 lives to India-sponsored terrorism, saying it scarred generations, while draining billions of dollars from the country’s economy.
She said that Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts and sacrifices have been well recognised internationally.
The diplomat also recalled that Pakistan presented to the international community extensive evidence of India’s financing, aiding and abetting of terrorist groups targeting Pakistani civilians and security personnel.
“Yet, despite its endless lectures to others on terrorism, we are still waiting to hear India unequivocally condemn the terrorist attacks that kill innocent Pakistani civilians,” she said.
Referring to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, Saima reiterated that the Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) “never was, neither is, nor will ever be an integral part of India”.
Recognised internationally as a disputed territory, a huge part of the region is under India’s forcible and illegal occupation for nearly eight decades against the wishes of the Kashmiri people, she said.
Drawing parallels between IIOJK and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, she said that people in AJK enjoyed rights, participated in political life, and had the freedom to express their opinions.
On the contrary, the people of IIOJK endure decades of occupation, repression and denial of their fundamental rights and freedoms, she added.
On India’s rising extremism and repression against minorities, she said that the ruling RSS-BJP dispensation in India has institutionalised Hindutva ideology in state policy and practice, and unleashed a reign of terror against minorities.
“Muslims are demonised; Christians persecuted; Dalits dehumanised; and Sikhs disenfranchised in the largest hypocrisy in the world,” the counsellor added.
She maintained that the massacres of Muslims in Gujarat and Delhi under state patronage, calls for the genocide of Muslims, Islamophobic rhetoric by politicians, and discriminatory citizenship laws were part of the Hindutva project.
With regard to the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) dispute, she said that India has stooped to a new low of weaponising water, a lifeline for the 240 million people of Pakistan.
“Its false narratives and disinformation could not hide the crushing defeat it suffered at Pakistan’s hands during Marka-e-Haq in May 2025,” she added.
It is well recognised by the international community that India lost more than a military conflict, she said, adding that Delhi lost “its credibility” and can no longer import sympathy as it stood exposed in front of the world.
2026-09-26 11:45:00
