India again castigated Pakistan as it gave blistering retort to Prime Minister Imran Khan raking up the issue of Kashmir in his address to the UN General Assembly. India said in its response that Pakistan, where terrorists enjoy free pass, is an “arsonist” disguising itself as a “fire-fighter”.

Khan in his address spoke about the 2019 decision of India to abrogate Article 370 as well as the death of pro-Pakistan separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. “The worst and most pervasive form of Islamophobia now rules India,” Khan said in an address, delivered by video due to Covid precautions.

In a sharp retort, first secretary Sneha Dubey said the entire world has suffered because of Pakistan’s policies as the country nurtures terrorists in its backyard. The young diplomat, who has won praise globally, reiterated that the entire union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh “were, are and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India”.

“This includes the areas that are under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. We call upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation,” said Dubey.

Who is this dynamic officer?

Sneha Dubey is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of 2012 batch and completed her schooling from Goa. She went to Pune Fergusson College for higher studies and finally to Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for MPhil in international Studies.

She nurtured a dream of becoming an IFS officer from the age of 12. She cleared the civil services examination in her first attempt in 2011. Dubey is an avid traveller and believes that as an IFS officer, she has received a great opportunity to represent her country. Dubey is the first person in her family to be working as a government servant; her father works in a multinational company, while her mother is a school teacher.

Dubey’s first appointment after being selected in the IFS was in the ministry of external affairs. In 2014, she went to Indian embassy in Madrid.

Praise on social media

As soon as her fiery response at the United Nations appeared on social media, it went viral with many users hailing Dubey for her replies. Some marvelled at the “young age” at which she has been given this responsibility and the way she handled it.

“What a way to shut the mouths of the jokers in Pakistan… every word was so carefully chosen… full of facts… brilliant,” said a user on Twitter.

“Isn’t she brilliant. I am impressed. So happy to see young guns do so well,” said a user with Krushna.

Excerpts from Sneha Dubey’s speech at UN

“This is also the country that still holds the despicable record in our region of having executed a religious and cultural genocide against the people of what is now Bangladesh. As we mark the 50th anniversary this year of that horrid event in history, there is not even an acknowledgment, much less accountability,” the young diplomat said.

Watch the full video of Sneha Dubey’s response at UNGA

With the international community marking this month the solemn occasion of the 20th anniversary of the “dastardly” 9/11 terror attacks, Dubey said the world has not forgotten that the “mastermind behind that dastardly event, Osama Bin Laden, got shelter in Pakistan. Even today, Pakistan leadership glorify him as a ‘martyr’.”

Dubey said it is regrettable that this is not the first time the leader of Pakistan has “misused” platforms provided by the UN to “propagate false and malicious propaganda against my country, and seeking in vain to divert the world’s attention from the sad state of his country where terrorists enjoy free pass while the lives of ordinary people, especially those belonging to the minority communities, are turned upside down.”