Even if India-Pakistan relations had not crashed to a new all-time low after last Sunday's attack by Pakistani terrorists on an Indian Army camp at Uri, resulting in the death of 18 Indian soldiers, and had the Army-ISI-Jihadi complex in Rawalpindi desisted from cross-border terrorism, Nawaz Sharif would have repeated the same hackneyed lines at the annual gathering in New York.
Pakistan's September rant while playing the victim card has become so predictable that nobody takes note of it.
What set apart this year's speech from the previous years' jabbering by whoever was representing Pakistan is the self-incriminating wound inflicted by Nawaz Sharif on Pakistan, exposing to the world the Rawalpindi-Islamabad establishment's continued use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
Perhaps never before has Pakistan stood so denuded of pretensions of being a responsible member of the global community. The epicentre of global terrorism advertised its macabre export of death and destruction through the belligerent words of Nawaz Sharif from the UNGA podium.
By naming Burhan Wani and eulogising a self-declared, gun-toting 'commander' of Hizbul Mujahideen, killed by Indian security forces, Nawaz Sharif publicly owned up and embraced, on behalf of Pakistan, a terrorist and a terrorist organisation.
The Hizbul Mujahideen is a designated terrorist organisation. By definition, its members are terrorists. By eulogising Burhan Wani, whom he described as a "young man", Nawaz Sharif declared to the world that Pakistan stands with terrorists and stands by terrorism.
Nothing could be a stronger indictment of Pakistan as an incubator and exporter of terror. The Hizbul Mujahideen is headquartered in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir; its chief, Salauddin, moves about freely in Islamabad and has access to top Generals in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan funds this terrorist organisation, trains and arms terrorists affiliated to it, and uses them to commit acts of terror in India, most notably in Jammu & Kashmir. After Nawaz Sharif's speech, there can be no doubts about the validity of these long-established facts till now contested by Pakistan. He has self-validated them.
It is clear that Nawaz Sharif was reading a text prepared by the Pindi Khakis, as the Army bosses are known in Pakistan. The Pindi Khakis are either ignorant of what it means to eulogise a terrorist affiliated to a designated terrorist organisation, or they simply do not care.
That, however, does not absolve Nawaz Sharif. A charitable explanation for his boo-boo would be that he is too scared to defy the other, and much more powerful, Sharif in Pakistan -- Army chief General Raheel Sharif. The last time he crossed swords with the Army chief resulted in his getting booted out of office. But for Saudi Arabia's intervention, Gen Pervez Musharraf would have done to him what Gen Zia did to Zulfi Bhutto.
A less charitable explanation, and possibly more correct, would be that Nawaz Sharif now subscribes to the view that Pakistan should cock a snook and dare the world. An effete international community can only indulge in name-calling and meaningless rebuke. Neither the US nor China would abandon terror-sponsoring Pakistan. Others do not matter.
Exercising its right to reply, India has responded scathingly to Nawaz Sharif's speech, with the First Secretary at India's Permanent Mission telling the UN General Assembly: . "The worst violation of human rights is terrorism. When practiced as an instrument of state policy it is a war crime. What my country and our other neighbours are facing today is Pakistan's long-standing policy of sponsoring terrorism, the consequences of which have spread well beyond our region."
The brutal takedown of preachy Pakistan is likely to be lost on Nawaz Sharif and his bosses, the Pindi Khakis. "The land of Taxila, one of the greatest learning centres of ancient times, is now host to the Ivy League of terrorism," India said in its response, "It attracts aspirants and apprentices from all over the world. The effect of its toxic curriculum are felt across the globe."
It is debatable whether Nawaz Sharif and the Pindi Khakis have either heard of Taxila or know of Ivy League.
Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.