India calls Pakistan 'dossier' to UN 'pack of lies with no takers'

UNITED NATIONS: India's UN Mission has dismissed as "a pack of lies with no takers" the dossier that Pakistan gave UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres alleging that India was fomenting terrorism against it from Afghanistan. The dossier given audaciously on the eve of the anniversary of the 2008 26/11 Mumbai attack by Pakistani terrorists had "zero credibility", the spokesperson told IANS on Wednesday.

"Pakistan hosts the largest number of terrorists proscribed by the UN," the spokesperson pointed out, adding, "The anti-India propaganda by Pakistan enjoys zero credibility in the international community."

"And today (as) we observe the 12th anniversary of the dastardly terrorist attack by Pakistan in Mumbai, their lies have no takers," the spokesperson said.

Earlier India's Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti drew attention to Islamabad protecting Al-Qaeda's chief Osama Bin Laden with a terse comment in a tweet: "Remember Abbottabad!"

Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad by US Special Forces in a house near the Pakistan Military Academy. After a string of reverses at the UN and other international forums, Pakistan's Permanent Representative Munir Akram met Guterres on Tuesday and gave the dossier trying to link the cross-border attacks that he said were coming from the Afghan side to India.

The dossier of alleged Indian links to terrorism follows a string of diplomatic failures for Pakistan at the UN and international forums.

In September it failed to have Indians designated as terrorists by a Security Council sanctions committee and last month the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to keep Pakistan on its grey list of countries that facilitate funding of terror organisations.

In August China was isolated at an informal meeting of the Council when it tried to bring up the Kashmir issue with the other four permanent members, the US, Russia, Britain and France, defending India and saying that the matter was a bilateral issue between the two countries.

At the high-level General Assembly meeting September, only Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned Kashmir and except for him and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the other 191 world leaders ignored it.

Last year the Council's panel that takes action against terrorists linked to ISIL, Al-Qaeda and similar groups and is known as the 1267 Sanctions Committee for the number of the resolution creating it added Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) leader Masood Azhar to the list of designated international terrorists after China abandoned its protection of him as international pressure mounted.

Smarting from these setbacks, Akram said, "India is also seeking to utilise Security Council mechanisms to defame Pakistan by portraying itself as a victim of terrorism. It is abusing the FATF to damage Pakistan's economy."

Having failed to get any traction on the Kashmir issue at the UN, Islamabad is trying the new tactic of the terrorism smear.

Guterres's Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq acknowledged the receipt of the dossier. "We have received this document and will be looked at, and that is as much as I can say for now," he told reporters on Wednesday.

Asked by a reporter if Guterres was concerned about the two nuclear-armed neighbours facing off each other, Haq said, "He is very clear on his stand on nuclear non-proliferation. You are aware of his encouragement to countries to abide by the various nonproliferation treaties that are in effect. And we stand by that call today."

Akram warned India that "Pakistan also reserves the right to exercise its right to self-defence in accordance with the principles and provisions of the UN Charter."

Pakistan's envoy asserted that in recent months "cross-border terrorist attacks in Pakistan from the ungoverned spaces across our western border have escalated. We knew of India's hand in such attacks". He alleged that India was trying to disrupt China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with the Balochistan separatists and was running 66 camps in Afghanistan and 22 in India to train a force of 700 for this.

Akram claimed that India was in a "Hybrid/5th Generation War" with Pakistan and was helping Tehrik-i-Taliban in Pakistan and its splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. He followed it up with the claim that India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was working for the "creation of a 'Daesh-Pakistan' (to establish Pakistan's links to ISIS)".

Earlier this month Afghanistan rejected the allegations about its territory being used for terrorist activities against Pakistan. The Afghan Foreign Ministry said that the country as a victim of terrorism is committed to combating terrorism "and will never allow Afghan territory to be used for destructive activities against other countries".

France led the effort backed by the US, Britain, Belgium and Germany to block Islamabad's attempt with China's help in the 1267 Committee to designate as terrorists Venumadhav Dongara in June, Ajoy Mistry in July and Angara Appaji and Gobinda Patnaik in September. (IANS)

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