New York/Sept, 30: India Sunday hit back at Pakistan after its Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made at the UN that terrorists behind the 2014 attack on a Peshawar school were “supported” by India, saying the “despicable insinuation” dishonours the memory of the children killed in the assault.
Indian diplomat from the country’s Permanent Mission to the UN, Eenam Gambhir, exercised India’s Right of Reply and rejected Qureshi’s allegation made during his General Assembly address last night.
“Among the most outrageous was the preposterous allegation relating to the horrific terror attack on a Peshawar school four years ago,” Gambhir said.
She reminded the new Pakistan government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, that there was an outpouring of sorrow and pain in India following the massacre of children in 2014.
She said both Houses of India’s Parliament had expressed solidarity while paying respects to those killed.
“Schools all over India had observed two minutes of silence in their memory. The despicable insinuation made by the foreign minister of Pakistan dishonours the memory of the innocent lives lost to terrorists that day,” Gambhir said.
Qureshi had said that Pakistan will never forget the mass murder of more than 150 children in the Peshawar school, the Mastung attack and many others that “have links with terrorists supported by India.”
The Peshawar attack was carried out by heavily-armed 8-10 Taliban suicide bombers who stormed the army-run school and took several hostages. The attackers wearing paramilitary Frontier Corps uniforms had entered the school and started indiscriminate firing.
Exercising its Right of Reply, Pakistan said the claims of religious superiority are perpetrated through state patronage all across India.
The Pakistani representative made a reference to Farooq Ahmad Dar, saying he was tied to an army vehicle and used as a human shield in the Valley. He said members from India’s minority communities are publicly lynched at the hands of Hindu zealots.
He said Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognised dispute and the UN has called for holding of a impartial plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
He said Jammu and Kashmir is not a part of India, adding, “India cannot hide behind semantics anymore.
