India's terrorist exports have gone global

UNITED NATIONS:

Pakistan on Friday hit back after an Indian delegate branded the country as being a sponsor and promoter of terrorism at the UN General Assembly, asserting that New Delhi had "elevated propaganda into statecraft".

"It (India) exports terrorism and violence while trying to import victimhood and sympathy," Saima Saleem, a counsellor at the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, said while exercising her right of reply in the UN General Assembly.

Saima was reacting to a statement made by India's delegate, Petal Gahlot, in response to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's speech earlier in the day in which he made a reference to the 2025 military conflict with India, saying Pakistan's "brave and valiant armed forces" repulsed the "aggression" with "precision and professionalism".

In her response, the Indian delegate accused Pakistan of upholding security during the day, while actually carrying out terrorism at night.

Rebutting the Indian allegations about terrorism, Saima said that India was aiding and abetting terrorist groups targeting Pakistanis, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Balochistan Liberation Army and its Majeed Brigade. "Yet, despite its endless lectures to others on terrorism, we are still waiting to hear India unequivocally condemn the terrorist attacks that kill innocent Pakistani civilians," the Pakistani diplomat said.

"Since the turn of the century, Pakistan has lost nearly 100,000 lives to terrorism; generations scarred, and billions of dollars drained from our economy."