The UN grew to become the venue for a bitter face-off between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and terrorism, with the Indian facet lashing out at Pakistani overseas minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s “uncivilised remarks” aimed on the Indian premier and highlighting Islamabad’s “indisputable role” in harbouring terrorist organisations.

The exterior affairs ministry lashed out on Friday at Bhutto Zardari for his feedback geared toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and mentioned Pakistan shouldn’t forged aspersions on India given its monitor file on the therapy of minority communities and on counter-terrorism. Cities akin to New York, Mumbai and London “bear the scars of Pakistan-sponsored, supported and instigated terrorism” originating from “Special Terrorist Zones” in Pakistan, the ministry mentioned.

After chairing a particular assembly of the UN Security Council targeted on a “global counter-terrorism approach”, exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar informed the media on Thursday that the world perceives Pakistan because the “epicentre of terrorism” because the nation nonetheless shelters terror teams.

Alluding to Jaishankar’s feedback on Thursday about Pakistan being the nation that harboured terror mastermind Osama bin Laden till he was hunted down and killed in Abbottabad by the US in 2011, Bhutto Zardari had mentioned: “I’d like to remind the honourable minister of external affairs of India that Osama bin Laden is dead but the butcher of Gujarat lives and he is the prime minister of India. He was banned from entering this country until he became prime minister.”

In a pointy response to Bhutto Zardari’s remarks, exterior affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi mentioned the feedback marked “a new low, even for Pakistan”. Bhutto Zardari had “obviously forgotten” December 16, 1971, which marked the emergence of Bangladesh from erstwhile East Pakistan, and was a “direct result of the genocide unleashed by Pakistani rulers against ethnic Bengalis and Hindus”, he mentioned.

“Unfortunately, Pakistan does not seem to have changed much in the treatment of its minorities. It certainly lacks credentials to cast aspersions at India,” Bagchi mentioned.

Pointing to Pakistan’s “indisputable role in sponsoring, harbouring and actively financing terrorist and terrorist organisations” remaining beneath the scanner, Bagchi mentioned Bhutto Zardari’s “uncivilised outburst seems to be a result of Pakistan’s increasing inability to use terrorists and their proxies”.

New York, Mumbai, Pulwama, Pathankot and London are among the many cities that “bear the scars of Pakistan-sponsored, supported and instigated terrorism”, which emanated from “Special Terrorist Zones”, Bagchi mentioned, including: “‘Make in Pakistan’ terrorism has to stop.”

Information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur hit out at Bhutto Zardari’s comment, calling it “extremely nefarious and shameful”.

“This is the reflection of the pain of their defeat at the hands of India in 1971 on this very day,” Thakur mentioned, referring to the give up of the Pakistan Army to India after the 13-day conflict that led to the liberation of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.

Jaishankar and Bhutto Zardari have taken pot photographs at one another a number of instances this week whereas attending particular occasions on the UN. Jaishankar was in New York to chair two high-level occasions targeted on reformed multilateralism and counter-terrorism throughout India’s presidency of the UN Security Council for December.

On rising from the UN Security Council’s particular assembly on Thursday, Jaishankar was requested at a media stakeout about Bhutto Zardari elevating the Kashmir situation and his deputy Hina Rabbani Khar presenting a file on India’s alleged involvement in terrorism in Pakistan. Jaishankar responded by quoting former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s remarks throughout an October 2011 go to to Pakistan that “you can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours”.

Jaishankar added, “Eventually they will bite the people who keep them in the backyard. But as you know, Pakistan is not great on taking good advice…In terms of what they are saying, the truth is the world today sees them as the epicentre of terrorism.”

He mentioned the Covid-19 pandemic might have given lots of people “brain fog” however the “world has not forgotten…who has their fingerprints over a lot of activities in the region and beyond”.

Asked by a Pakistani journalist about Pakistan’s accusations concerning Indian involvement in terrorism, Jaishankar’s response was much more stinging: “You’re asking the wrong minister when you say how long will we do this because it is the ministers of Pakistan who will tell you how long Pakistan intends to practice terrorism.

“At the end of the day, the world is not stupid, the world is not forgetful, and the world does increasingly call out countries and organisations and people who indulge in terrorism.”

Jaishankar mentioned that as a substitute of diverting consideration away from terrorism, Pakistan ought to “clean up your act, please try to be a good neighbour, please try and contribute to what the rest of the world is trying to do today, which is economic growth, progress, development”.

Bhutto Zardari responded to Jaishankar’s remarks a short time later at a information convention, saying he disagreed with the outline of Pakistan because the epicentre of terrorism and noting that he himself was a sufferer of terrorism as his mom, former premier Benazir Bhutto had been assassinated by terrorists in 2007.

He accused the Indian authorities of linking all Muslims to terrorism and mentioned: “We’ve lost far more lives to terrorism than India has, why would we want our own people to suffer…India is playing in that space where it’s very easy to say Muslim and terrorist together and get the world to agree.”

On Friday, Bagchi accused Pakistan of glorifying Osama bin Laden as a “martyr” and sheltering terrorists akin to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Hafiz Saeed and Sajid Mir, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim. “No other country can boast [of] having 126 UN-designated terrorists and 27 UN-designated terrorist entities!” he mentioned.

“We wish that Pakistan FM would have listened more sincerely yesterday [Thursday] at the UN Security Council to the testimony of Ms Anjali Kulthe, a Mumbai nurse who saved the lives of 20 pregnant women from the bullets of the Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab. Clearly, the foreign minister was more interested in whitewashing Pakistan’s role,” Bagchi mentioned, referring to the 2008 Mumbai assaults.

“Pakistan FM’s frustration would be better directed towards the masterminds of terrorist enterprises in his own country, who have made terrorism a part of their State policy. Pakistan needs to change its own mindset or remain a pariah,” he added.

India-Pakistan ties are presently at their lowest level, and the 2 sides haven’t held any structured dialogue for the reason that Mumbai assaults carried out by the LeT. A string of more moderen terror assaults by the JeM on navy services and personnel, such because the 2019 suicide bombing at Pulwama that killed 40 Indian troopers, additional raised tensions between the 2 sides and triggered Indian strikes throughout the Line of Control (LoC) and the worldwide border.

India’s scrapping of the particular standing of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 additionally sparked an offended response from Pakistan, which ended commerce, downgraded diplomatic relations and determined to not submit a excessive commissioner in New Delhi.