Pakistan PM Imran Khan Cries Foul On Kashmir Issue At UN General Assembly, Gives Nuke Threat Again

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's spirited speech at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan too got a chance to take the international podium.

New York: Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly. (Image: PTI)

New York: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's spirited speech at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan too got a chance to take the international podium. As expected, Pakistani PM cried foul on the Kashmir Issue and blamed Modi government for revoking special status in the Valley. Khan started his speech with talking about Islamophobia and how it is resulting into the marginalisation of Islamic countries and in turn leading to radicalisation. "Suicide attacks and Islam were equated but no one researched that before 9/11 most suicide attacks were caused by Tamil tigers but no one blamed Hinduism, quite rightly. What would Hinduism do with attacks," he said. Moving ahead, Khan spoke about the tragic Pulwama issue which took place on February 14, 2019 where at least 40 Indian Army soldiers were martyred. "India blamed us soon after the Pulwama attack took place. I requested the Indian government to present evidence about Pakistan's involvement, rather they sent jets and bombed us," he said. "We retaliated strongly and during the air fight one of their pilots bailed out. We immediately returned the pilot because we want peace. Instead of taking it as a peace gesture, the Indian Prime Minister launched his entire campaign about saying that they have taught Pakistan a lesson," Khan said. Further raking up the Kashmir issue, Khan once again made a baseless claims and said that India went 'against' constitution and abrogated Article 370. He alleged that New Delhi had placed 8 million Kashmiris under curfew. In his speech, Khan even blamed the global community for not acting against India and said that this is due to the fact that India is a huge market. "India got an extra 180,000 troops in Kashmir, the total forces are now 900,000. They have put eight million people under curfew, Khan alleged. "There are millions of Muslims in India. PM Modi, do you know what they must be thinking. If there's a bloodbath, Muslims will become radicals. You are forcing Muslims into radicalisation. They will pick up arms," he said. "I have come to New York especially for Kashmir. Everything else is secondary. The world doesn't realise that we are heading for a big disaster," he said. Interestingly, Khan started his speech by saying Pakistan is a peace loving country but later on went ahead to once again threaten Indian government with a possibility of nuclear war. "If the conventional war starts with a country which is four times Pakistan, what will we do? This is what I ask myself a lot of times. But I say this, we will fight but think what happens when two nuclear countries fight," he said. According to reports, India will use the right to reply option, to Pakistan PM Imran Khan's speech in the UNGA later in the session. Before his speech, Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi addressed the UNGA session but did not mentioned about either Pakistan or the Kashmir issue as India has been firm on its stand that abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir is country's internal matter and needs no intervention of the outside world, including Pakistan. However, hitting out at Pakistan and Imran Khan indirectly, PM Modi said India did not give war to world, but wisdom and peace. "We believe that terrorism is not a challenge for any one country, but for all countries and of mankind as a whole. So for the sake of humanity, all the world has to unite against terror," PM Modi said. Since the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Khan and Pakistani government has been crying foul that India was out to change the demography of Kashmir into a Hindu-majority one from the present Muslim majority state, under what he calls as the "Hindu fascist and supremacist" government of Modi. US President Donald Trump, though he has several times suggested mediation on Kashmir, kept away from mentioning the issue in his speech, and has voiced confidence in Modi tackling cross-border terror. He has also "encouraged" Modi to improve relations with Islamabad and "fulfil his promises" to better the lives of the Kashmiri people, according to a readout of their bilateral meeting.