India’s Befitting Reply To Pakistan’s Hate speech: Nuclear Threat is Brinksmanship, Not Statesmanship

New Delhi: Exercising its right of reply to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement in the UN General Assembly, India’s First Secretary in Permanent Mission to the UN, Vidisha Maitra has hit out on Pakistan saying the threat of nuclear war by the Pakistani Prime Minister is nothing but ‘Brinkmanship’ and not ‘Statesmanship’.

The strongly worded reply to PM Khan’s Statement has exposed Pakistan’s double standards on Terrorism. Hitting back on Pakistani PM’s speech, India said its citizens do not need anyone else to speak on their behalf and ‘least of all those who have built an industry of terrorism from the ideology of hate.’

In her speech at the UNGA, Vidisha Maitra said ‘Every word spoken from the podium of this august Assembly, it is believed, carries the weight of history. Unfortunately, what we heard today from Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan was a callous portrayal of the world in binary terms. Us vs Them; Rich vs Poor; North vs South; Developed Vs Developing; Muslims vs Others. A script that fosters divisiveness at the United Nations. Attempts to sharpen differences and stir up hatred, are simply put – ‘hate speech’.”

She also said that rarely has the General Assembly witnessed such “misuse, rather abuse”, of an opportunity to reflect. “Words matter in diplomacy. Invocation of phrases such as “pogrom”, “bloodbath”, “racial superiority”, “pick up the gun” and “fight to the end” reflect a medieval mindset and not a 21st century vision.” “Pogroms, Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi, are not a phenomenon of today’s vibrant democracies,”.

“We would request you to refresh your rather sketchy understanding of history. Do not forget the gruesome genocide perpetrated by Pakistan against its own people in 1971 and the role played by Lt. Gen A A K Niazi. A sordid fact that the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh reminded this Assembly about earlier this afternoon.” Maitra said Khan’s “threat of unleashing nuclear devastation qualifies as brinksmanship, not statesmanship.”