By Arul Louis
United Nations, Jan 23 (IANS): India has called upon Pakistan to take steps to restore normal ties through diplomacy instead of "spewing venom and false narratives" which have been rejected by the international community.
India's Deputy Permanent Representative Nagaraj Naidu, said on Wednesday that Pakistan "should get down to the normal business of diplomacy" and take "steps to restore normal ties".
He was responding to an attack on India by Saad Ahmed Warraich, a Counsellor at Pakistan's mission, during a General Assembly debate on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's report on the work of the UN.
Naidu said: "Pakistan needs to reflect that there are no takers for its false rhetoric and should get down to the normal business of diplomacy."
"Instead of putting an end to the bellicose and vitriolic diatribe and taking steps to restore normal ties, the delegation indulges in confabulations and obfuscates the international community from the truth," he said.
Hitting back at Warraich's accusation that India was taking steps to "marginalize minorities including Muslims," Naidu said: "It's extremely surprising that a country that has completely decimated its minority population talks about protecting minorities."
According to Hudson Institute report, the non-Muslim population of Pakistan has declined from almost 23 per cent in 1947 to about 3 per cent.
Naidu said: "Every time this delegation speaks, it spews venom and false narratives of monumental proportions."
He added: "Pakistan's practice of using false pretences to distract from addressing the malaise that afflicts it has run its course."
For Pakistan to take steps to restore normal ties, it would have to meet India work to meet India's pre-condition of ending cross-border terrorism and supporting terrorists.
Pakistan brings up the Kashmir issue in almost every discussion or debate at the UN, regardless of the topic.
Warraich said that "sadly" the Security Council resolutions on Kashmir have not been implemented, although it was Pakistan's refusal to abide by the Council's Resolution 47 of 1948 that has created the Kashmir problem.
That resolution had ordered Pakistan to withdraw its troops and infiltrators from Kashmir before a plebiscite could be held there.
Naidu drew attention to the lack of sufficient action on the dangers of terrorism as a failure of the UN.
Calling terrorism "the most dangerous of scourges faced by States and societies since World War II", he said that the UN's inability to tackle the problem has cast doubt on its very relevance.
He said: "The UN is yet to agree on a common definition, let alone craft a coherent and well-coordinated policy to tackle terrorism and dismantle its enabling networks. We have failed ourselves by continuing to procrastinate on concluding the Comprehensive Convention against International Terrorism (CCIT)."
The CCIT, which was proposed by India in 1996, has been languishing because some countries want to consider some terrorists as "freedom fighters" by looking at their political motivations rather than at the outcomes of their actions.
Naidu warned that the UN's failure to reform the Security Council that is "anchored in a governance architecture that is frozen in a bygone era" has created a crisis of legitimacy.
"As we mark the 75th anniversary of the UN, let us strive to ensure that this milestone year is the one that finally delivers some concrete progress towards a Council that reflects the realities of the contemporary world," he said.