Indian rigidity at UNGA exposed its “true face” — Pakistan

In this file photo, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018. (AP)

• The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India is under extreme pressure from Hindu nationalists to escalate tensions with Pakistan ahead of general elections, opine Pakistan’s security analysts
• Pakistan’s stance of peace through dialogue was welcomed by world community at the UNGA but met Indian refusal, says Pakistan’s Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan government on Sunday claimed that it has ‘exposed the true face’ of its arch-rival India before the international community by telling the world at United Nations General Assembly that its neighboring country was shying away from dialogue for peace in the region.
“We have exposed India’s true face before the United Nations and the international community now knows that they (India) are the ones who want war and don’t believe in peace and dialogue,” Andleeb Abbas, Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Arab News.
The parliamentary secretary said that India was getting exposed through its “baseless rhetoric” against Pakistan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can “do nothing against us except leveling baseless allegations of terrorism.”
“This is our strategy to expose them that the real terrorist in Baluchistan and Kashmir is India,” she said.
Talking about Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s speech at the UNGA session in New York, she said that Pakistan has talked about human principles and highlighted the plight of Palestinian, Syrian and Kashmiri Muslims through the platform.
“Everyone is appreciating our stance,” she said.
Abbas, also dispelled the impression of Pakistan’s “weak stance” in the face of Indian aggression, saying: “Pakistan believes in peace. We don’t want to wage any war with India, but we will keep exposing its dirty acts before the international community.”
Speaking at the UNGA in New York on Saturday, both Pakistan and India accused each other of being involved in cross-border terrorism and sabotaging the peace dialogue amid worsening tensions between the both nuclear-armed countries.
Defense and security analysts, however, ruled out a chance of any limited-war or possible escalation on the borders in the backdrop of the recent build-up in tensions between the two neighboring countries.
General (retd.) Talat Masood, renowned security analyst, said that India’s attitude at the United Nations General Assembly showed that it wanted to increase pressure on Pakistan by deflecting attention of the international community from its atrocities in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
“Cordial relations of Pakistan and China are also one of the reasons behind India’s aggressive behavior,” he told Arab News, “upcoming elections in India are also one of the factors behind India’s recent policies toward Pakistan.”
Masood said that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India was under “extreme pressure from Hindu nationalists” and therefore chances of any dialogue even after the elections were slim.
He also lauded Pakistan’s “peaceful response” toward India as Islamabad has been trying to project itself before the international community as a “responsible country.”
Lt. General (retd.) Amjad Shoaib, defense and security analyst, said that Pakistan would give a befitting and matching response to India in case of any “misadventure” by it and this has been well conveyed to it through the platform of the UNGA.
“Both Pakistan and India are nuclear-armed countries and I don’t see any chance of a war, or even escalation at the borders behind a certain level,” he told Arab News.
Shoaib said that Pakistan has rendered invaluable sacrifices of over 70,000 people in the war against terror and only “an ignorant can blame us of involvement in cross-border terrorism.”