Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, said Pakistan would fight till the end if India imposed a war in case of any Pulwama-like situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).
“If a conventional war starts between the two countries, anything could happen. But supposing a country seven times smaller than its neighbour is faced with the choice: either you surrender, or you fight for your freedom till death?” he said.
“What will we do? I ask myself these questions. We will fight… and when a nuclear-armed country fights to the end, it will have consequences far beyond the borders.”
He said there will be bloodbath once curfew is lifted in IOK.
“There are 900,000 troops there, they haven’t come to, as Narendra Modi says — for the prosperity of Kashmir… These 900,000 troops, what are they going to do? When they come out? There will be a bloodbath,” he said.
The IOK is under lockdown for over 50 days following New Delhi’s illegal move of revoking its special status on August 5.
The Indian government has deployed ten of thousands of additional troops in addition to already 800,000-strong contingent, imposed severe restrictions including curfew and communication blockade.
Thousands of people have been detained and political leaders are placed under house arrest.
PM Imran asked the United Nations to act before it’s too late.
US wants ‘rapid action’, tells India to end occupied Kashmir clampdown
“This is not a time to appease but a time to action… India must lift curfew, free all political prisoners, and the world community must give Kashmiris the right to self-determination,” the premier said.
He rejected India’s claims of militant organisations operating in Pakistan.
I invite UN to visit Pakistan see for themselves the steps we have taken to counter terrorism, he said, adding that Pakistan reached out to India several times but to no avail.
“[Narendra Modi’s] hidden agenda came to fore on August 5, when New Delhi revoked special status of occupied Kashmir and locked 80 million Kashmiris in curfew.”
He said Indian actions in IOK were pushing people to pick guns. “When you’re imprisoning 8 million people, you are forcing them to pick arms,” he said.
Climate change
At the beginning of his speech, the prime minister touched upon the issue of climate change, saying that reckless attitude of world leaders, especially those of the developed countries, was the main hurdle in tackling the issue.
He said around 80 per cent of Pakistan and India’s water came from the glaciers, which, he added, were melting at a fast pace due to rising temperatures.
He demanded of the world community to push the developed countries, which are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, to take cognisance of the matter which is having “devastating consequences for human beings”.
Money laundering
Speaking on the issue of money laundering, PM Imran took the developed world to task for ‘exploiting’ wealth of under-developed countries through “legal loopholes” in their system.
“Every year billions of dollars leave poor countries and end up in the foreign accounts in the western world, widening the gap between the rich and the poor, and giving rise to poverty and deaths,” he said.
“In order to stop the economic migration, it is imperative for the world to act against the money laundering.”
Islamophobia
The premier explained the reasons of the rise of Islamophobia in the world.
He said hatred against Muslims rose when some western leaders equated Islam with terrorism.
People living in the western world, he said, have a different point of view about the religion than people living in Muslim countries.
“Certain sections in the western world deliberately published books against Islam causing fury in the Muslim countries and Muslims were portrayed as intolerant and extremist,” he said.
The false perception, he added, was created due to the inability of Muslim leaders to explain the sanctity of religion and Holy Prophet (PBUH) for the Muslims.
He said there was nothing like radical or extremist Islam, lashing out at leaders for using the term “radical Islam”.
“How a person living in the western country would distinguish between radical Islam and modern Islam,” he said, and added that in all religions there were extremists but no religion taught such ideals.During his speech at UNGA, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan called on the UN to act on the ongoing lockdown of Kashmir, in a speech where he also covered corruption, climate change and Islamophobia.
"What is the world community going to do," Khan said, asking "is [the world] going to appease a market of 1.2 billion or is it going to stand up for justice and humanity".
Khan warned the situation in Kashmir could escalate, claiming Pakistan would be blamed by India for any future conflict and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not thought through the effects of revoking Kashmir's special status.
"What will happen when the curfew is lifted is a bloodbath," he said. "If a conventional war starts between the two countries, anything could happen."
The former cricketer also warned of grave consequences if the two nuclear-armed neighbours were to be involved in a war.
"It's not a threat, it's a fair worry," he said, calling on the UN to instead intervene.
Khan earlier accused India and its PM Narendra Modi of drumming up hostility towards Pakistan during the election campaign earlier this year, claiming Modi falsely accused Pakistan of helping armed groups in Kashmir.
Khan calls to combat corruption, climate change and Islamophobia
Imran Khan talked about the need for the world to do more on corruption and money laundering, which according to Khan stopped the developing world from reaching its potential.
"Money laundering is not treated the same way as for instance money from drugs or terror financing," the Pakistani PM said.
Khan accused the developed world of not showing any political will to combat tax havens, which in turn lead to ruling elites to syphon of money.
The Pakistani leader also urged the world to combate climate change, saying richer countries should be pushed to act on the matter.
The prime minister also addressed Islamophobia, saying Muslims in European countries have been marginalised, warning it would eventually lead to radicalisation.
Khan said that since the September 11, 2001 attacks, Islamophobia has rapidly increased in Western countries
"Islam is not radical, neither is Judaism, or Christianity, or Hinduism. The basis of all religion is compassion," Khan said.
No mention of Kashmir in Modi's address at UNGA
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not mention the ongoing lockdown of Kashmir in his addressed at UNGA on Friday. Speaking at the gathering, the PM instead talked about India's and his government's achievements.
"Today the message from the world's largest democracy for the international community is still the same: harmony and peace," Modi said as he called on the world to "unite against terrorism", without going into specifics.
Talking about his election victory earlier this year, Modi said his government received "an even stronger mandate than before".
He also talked about India's infrastructure plans, including building houses, improving sanitation and a big effort to reduce single-use plastics in the country.
Modi also talked about the country's efforts to battle climate change and the aim of getting rid of tuberculosis in India.
Trump denies Rouhani claim US offered to lift sanctions in exchange for talks
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the United States offered to lift sanctions in exchange for a meeting, a statement which was subsequently denied by US President Donald Trump
"It was up for debate what sanctions will be lifted and they had said clearly that we will lift all sanctions."
"But this action wasn’t in a manner that was acceptable, meaning that in the atmosphere of sanctions and the existence of sanctions and the toxic atmosphere of maximum pressure, even if we want to negotiate with the Americans in the 5+1 framework, no one can predict what the end and result of this negotiation will be," Rouhani concluded.
After Rouhani made his statement, President Trump tweeted that Iran wanted the sanctions lifted before any meeting could take place, which Trump refused to do.
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