Frankenstein state: India's takedown of Pak at UN on terrorism

India told the UN Human Rights Council that Pakistan had harboured and nurtured terrorism as state policy. It said Islamabad's claim of being a victim exposed a paradox that only Pakistan could sustain.

In Short

• India questions Pak's assertion that it is itself a terrorism victim
• Says Pakistan harboured and nurtured terrorism as a state policy
• Diplomat raises deteriorating conditions in POK

India described Pakistan as a "Frankenstein state" that harboured and nurtured terrorism as a state policy and was now facing the consequences of its own actions. In a stinging response to Pakistan at a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session on Thursday, India's Anupama Singh questioned Islamabad's claims of being a victim of terrorism, stressing that it gets "shocked when its own monster bites back".

Singh, who is the First Secretary at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations, described the situation as a paradox that "only Pakistan could sustain". "This is the country where the sitting Defence Minister boasts of hosting, training and deploying terrorists as a state policy and yet Pakistan calls itself a victim of terrorism," Singh said.

"It is a living example of a Frankenstein state which is shocked when its own monster bites back," she further said.

While Singh did not specify, she was likely referring to Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's remarks last year. In a rare public acknowledgement during an interview, Asif admitted that Pakistan backed, trained, and funded terror organisations for over three decades.

Asif said Pakistan did the "dirty work" for the US and the West post-9/11. However, he called it a "mistake" that Pakistan has paid a heavy price for.

SLAMS PAKISTAN ON POK UNREST, KASHMIR

The Indian diplomat also drew attention to what she described as the deteriorating conditions in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), referring to recent unrest in Rawalakot.

Earlier this month, massive protests erupted across POK against rising prices, electricity tariffs and economic hardships. The protesters also demanded subsidised wheat and rice. A crackdown on the protests by the Pakistani army left 16 dead and more than 40 injured.

Following the crackdown, the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC) said there was a near-total breakdown of communications and curbs on the movement of essential supplies.

"Demands for bread were met with bullets and brutality," Anupama Singh said at the UNHRC session.

"The ongoing tragedy in Rawalakot, the killing of hundreds of civilians and the brutal crackdown across POK are the predictable outcome of a system built on forcible occupation and sustained through repression," she further pointed out.

She also underlined that Pakistan's propaganda on Kashmir was designed to mask its domestic failures. Singh urged Pakistan to put its own house in order rather than making claims over Indian territory.

At the same breath, Singh said Jammu and Kashmir remained an integral part of India. "The only unresolved issue is of Pakistan's illegal occupation of Indian territories and their return," she said.

- Ends