Taking a veiled dig at Pakistan, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in her address at the 71st UN General Assembly (UNGA) session 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 essence making a call to the international community to isolate such nations.
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."
HIGHLIGHTS FROM SUSHMA SWARAJ'S SPEECH BELOW:
- My firm advice to Pakistan is: abandon this dream. Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain so
- In return of friendship given to Pakistan, we got Pathankot, Uri and Bahadur Ali
- Those who seed extr't ideologies, reap a bitter harvest. This germ of evil has grown into a hydra-headed monster
- The brutality against the Baloch people represents the worst form of state oppression:
- For some nations it has become a hobby to breed terrorists
- Who finances terror and terrorists? Same question was raised by Afghanistan on this very platform few days back
- Terrorism is the biggest violation of human rights
- I am very thankful to the UN for its tremendous support for International Yoga daY
- We must remember that we will be defined not just by our actions, but equally, by our inaction
- A year has passed since I stood at this hallowed podium to address members of the int'l community
7:10pm: Sushma Swaraj begins her speech in Hindi.
6:42pm:
Pakistan on Sunday accused India of maligning its image while Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at Islamabad over the Uri attack in his monthly radio talk, the continuing rhetoric setting the stage for a key address by foreign minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday.
Sharif had held out the possibility of fresh peace talks with India in his speech even while angering New Delhi by referring to slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani as a "young leader murdered" by India.
Modi too signalled at a rally in Kozhikode on Saturday that the war he was most keen to fight was "against poverty" in both India and Pakistan.
But neither side was relaxing the rhetoric, which had picked up amid the clashes between security forces and protesters in Kashmir since July and got intensified after the Uri attack left 18 soldiers dead on September 18 morning.
"It is unfortunate that the Indian leadership continues to indulge in a well-thought-out vilification campaign against Pakistan by making provocative statements and baseless accusations," Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement. "Such irresponsible display of behaviour at the highest political level is regrettable."
India insists that the four terrorists who attacked the army camp in Uri had crossed the Line of Control from Pakistan and carried weapons bearing Pakistani markings.
It says the attack, during which all the four terrorists were killed, is the latest evidence of Pakistan's unwillingness or inability to shut down the training camps on its territory from where terrorists attack India.
On Sunday, in his Mann ki Baat radio address, Modi said the Uri attack had angered India and ignited a sense of nationalism similar to the period leading up to the 1965 war with Pakistan. He did not say whether he would respond the way India had 51 years ago.
"There is a lot of value to the anger that people of the country have," Modi said. "This is a symbol of the country's awakening. This anger is of the kind of 'do something'. When the 1965 war broke out and Lal Bahadur Shastri was leading the country, similar was the feeling, the anger in the country. There was a fever of nationalism."
Sunday's rhetorical exchanges come amid a slanging match the South Asian neighbours have engaged in over the past two months - at their capitals, across the world and at the UN in both Geneva and New York.
After Sharif's speech at the UN General Assembly last week, India fielded a first secretary from its UN New York mission, Eenam Gambhir, to hit back. In her reply to Sharif, she called Pakistan the "Ivy League of terrorism".
Pakistan deployed a mid-ranking officer from its UN mission to respond to Gambhir. "The cold-blooded murder of Burhan Wani sparked protests across Kashmir, which were spontaneous and indigenous," the Pakistani delegate said.
Sushma's address could prove the climax of a week of verbal jousts at the UN. It could equally serve as the pivot for a fresh round of diplomatic bickering.
(With information from -The Telegraph Calcutta)