India@UN: Pakistan-sponsored terrorists killed 20,000 Indians in four decades
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: India on Saturday slammed Pakistan for its four-decades-old state-sponsored policy on promoting terrorism which has claimed the lives of more than 20,000 Indians, the media reported.
On Saturday, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Parvathaneni Harish, said that, despite these extreme violations, India has shown “extraordinary patience and magnanimity” throughout this period.
“Pakistan’s state-sponsored cross-border terrorism in India seeks to hold hostage the lives of civilians, religious harmony, and economic prosperity,” he said.
Harish also condemned Pakistan over its “disinformation” campaign on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which was suspended after a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22. The 65-year-old treaty will remain in abeyance until Pakistan, a “global epicentre of terror,” ends its support for cross-border terrorism.
His response came after the Pakistani representative raked up the IWT issue at the UN, saying “water is life and not a weapon of war.”
India suspended the 1960 IWT on April 23, a day after the Pakistani terrorists massacred 26 Hindu-only tourists at Pahalgam. New Delhi’s decisive action came after it found “cross-border linkages” to the dastardly terror attack.
“India has always acted in a responsible manner as an upper riparian state,” Harish said as he highlighted four points that “exposed” Pakistan.
“First, India entered into the IWT 65 years ago in good faith. The preamble of that treaty describes how it was concluded with spirit and friendship. Throughout the six and a half decades, Pakistan has violated the spirit of that treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India,” he said.
“Second, in these 65 years, far-reaching fundamental changes have taken place, not only in terms of escalating security concerns through cross-border terror attacks but also growing requirements for producing clean energy, climate change, and demographic change,” the Indian Ambassador said.
“Technology for dam infrastructure has transformed to ensure safety and efficiency of operations and water use. Some of the old dams are facing serious safety concerns. However, Pakistan has continued to block consistently any changes to this infrastructure and any modifications of the provisions which is permissible under the treaty,” he said.
In 2012, terrorists even attacked the Tulbul navigation project in Jammu and Kashmir. “These cynical acts continue to endanger the safety of our projects and the lives of civilians,” he said.
“Third, India has formally asked Pakistan to discuss modifications on several occasions in the past two years. However, Pakistan continues to reject these, and its obstructionist approach continues to prevent the exercise of full utilisation of the legitimate rights by India,” he stated.
“Fourth, it is against this backdrop that India has finally announced that the treaty will be in abeyance until Pakistan, which is a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border terrorism,” Harish added.
“It is clear that it is Pakistan which remains in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty,” he said.
India, after finding cross-border links to the Pahalgam massacre, launched a highly-successful Operation Sindoor on May 7 and eliminated several terror camps and their launchpads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Pakistan then launched a massive missile and drone attack, but the threats were completely thwarted. In retaliation, Indian forces struck multiple airfields in Pakistan, wiping out 20 percent of its air infrastructure, until its panicked Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) requested his Indian counterpart on May 10 to suspend cross-firing. India agreed but clarified the Operation continues.
