New Delhi: Pakistan has defended terrorism at the UN Security Council on Tuesday, claiming that it is “legitimate” when done by “people living under foreign occupation” and tried to equate Kashmir with Palestine. India dismissed Pakistan’s remarks “with contempt” and refused to respond to them. India’s Deputy Permanent Representative R. Ravindra said: “There was a remark of habitual nature by one delegation referring to union territories that are integral parts of my country. I will treat these commands with contempt and not dignify them with a response in the interest of time.” Pakistan always brings up the Kashmir issue at the UN, but gets no support.
Pakistan’s Logic Of Terrorism
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Munir Akram said that Pakistan “condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”, but added that “under international law, the struggle of people living under foreign occupation for self-determination and national liberation is legitimate and cannot be equated with terrorism”. He also criticized the US and other countries that have taken a strong stand against terrorism and backed India when it faced terrorist attacks from Pakistan or Israel when it suffered from terrorism from various sources. “Some in this council have offered protection to their allies who are oppressing occupied people in Palestine and in Kashmir,” he said.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned the 26/11 Mumbai attack by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and said that the Council and the General Assembly “have repeatedly affirmed, all acts of terrorism are unlawful and unjustifiable”.
Akram said that “under the UN Charter, states have the right of self-defence against attacks on their sovereignty and territorial integrity”, but “a state which is in forcible occupation of a foreign territory cannot invoke the right to self-defence against those whose territory it has illegally occupied”.
This is the flawed logic of Pakistan and some other countries that terrorists considered by a country to be “freedom fighters” are not terrorists. This has prevented the adoption of an international convention against terrorism proposed by India. “Any attempt to create a false equivalence between Israel, the occupying power, and the Palestinians, the victims of this occupation, is untenable legally morally and politically,” Akram asserted.
Pakistan’s Silence On Hamas
While strongly condemning Israel’s air strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza, Akram did not condemn Hamas for its terrorist attacks on Israelis that killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 200 hostage. He also blamed Washington without naming it for its veto of the Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire or a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict. “We regret that the Security Council has been unable to issue a call for a ceasefire,” he said. “A heavy responsibility rests on those who contribute to the prolongation of this conflict.”
