India slams Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif's speech at UNGA; 'to obfuscate own misdeeds'

India on Saturday called out Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif for 'making false accusations against India' during his address at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). In a stern message, the first secretary of the Indian Mission to the UN, Mijito Vinito, slammed Pakistan for sheltering terrorists behind the horrific 26/11 Mumbai attack and accused it of sponsoring cross-border terrorism.

"It is regrettable that the Pakistan PM chose the platform of this assembly to make false accusations against India. He has done so to obfuscate misdeeds in his own country, and to justify actions against India," Mijito Vinito said, exercising India's right of reply.

On Sharif's statement -"We look for peace with all our neighbours"; India replied, "A polity that claims it seeks peace with its neighbours would never sponsor cross-border terrorism, nor shelter planners of horrific Mumbai terrorist attack…disclosing their existence only after pressure from the international community.

"The desire for peace, security and progress in the Indian subcontinent will surely happen when cross-border terrorism ceases, when governments come clean with the international community and their own people, when minorities are not persecuted and, not least, when we recognize these realities before this Assembly," he said in his closing statement.

The Pakistani PM earlier raked up the Kashmir issue at the 77th session of the UNGA and said that it looks for peace with all our neighbours, including India. "Sustainable peace and stability in South Asia however remain contingent upon a just and lasting solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute…," he added. He also raised the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35 A by the Indian government in 2019.

"India must take credible steps to create an enabling environment for constructive engagement. We are neighbours and we are there forever, the choice is ours whether we live in peace or keep on fighting with each other. It is now up to us to resolve our differences, our problems, and our issues through peaceful negotiations and discussions," Shehbaz Sharif, who became Pakistan's Prime Minister in April this year, said further.