India on Wednesday criticized Pakistan for raising issues like Kashmir at the virtual meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers, saying it is a “globally recognized promoter of state-sponsored terrorism” posing as a victim of the threat.
The remarks were part of a statement issued by Vikas Swarup, Secretary (West) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who participated in the meeting on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, S Jaishankar.
The two countries were not named in their respective statements, although it was clear who they were referring to. Pakistan raised the issue of India’s alleged sponsorship of terrorist activities against Islamabad and described Jammu and Kashmir as “disputed territory”.
Swarup said it was regrettable that the Commonwealth meeting was “misused by one of our South Asian member states to pursue its own bigoted, ill-conceived, narrow and one-sided agenda on a multilateral platform.”
He added: “When we heard them rant about a South Asian state, we were left wondering why it was describing itself. And it’s not surprising that it came from a world-renowned promoter of state-sponsored terrorism disguised as an alleged victim of it. ”
In his speech, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said: “As the world remains concerned about the pandemic, a state in South Asia is targeting its minority religious groups to foment division and hatred. .. It has transgressed the rights and freedoms of millions and fueled hypernationalism to engineer an illegal demographic change in a disputed territory and sowed racial tensions.
Swarup accused Pakistan of bringing “genocide to South Asia 39 years ago, when it killed its own people,” and said: “This is also the same country that has the dubious distinction of becoming synonymous with the phrase ‘epicenter of terrorism. ‘and the largest number of terrorists banned by the United Nations. ”
Swarup said the “only remaining dispute” in Kashmir, which Pakistan described as a “disputed territory”, is “its own illegal occupation of certain parts, which sooner or later, it would have to dislodge.”
“That such a country hypocritically preaches about minority religious groups elsewhere, while trampling on the rights of its own indigenous minorities, was indeed very regrettable, and a blatant misuse of this august platform,” he added.
Swarup also spoke of India’s role in helping other countries counter the Covid-19 pandemic, saying: “As we move towards developing a Covid-19 vaccine, India (which accounts for 60% of the global production of vaccines) has already pledged its vaccine production and delivery capabilities to help the world fight this crisis. ”
In accordance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2018, India has opened a $ 50 million “Commonwealth Sub-Window” to provide grants to member states for projects related to the implementation of the SDGs and climate change.
In its first year of existence, this fund approved 11 projects in nine Commonwealth countries, including the development of a climate early warning system in seven Pacific island countries.
India has also more than doubled its support to the Commonwealth Small State Offices Program in New York, from $ 100,000 to $ 250,000, and Geneva, from $ 80,000 to $ 150,000, to support the participation of small island states in development with global organizations such as the UN and the WTO. Swarup said.
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