India walks out as Imran raises N-threat over Kashmir

Nepal PM Oli supports India’s proposal on tackling terrorism

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 25

India walked out of the UN General Assembly on Friday as Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan held out the threat of a nuclear war. He also urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to enforce its resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir by ensuring a referendum as was the case with East Timor in 1999.

Shrugging off accusations of sponsoring terrorism in J&K by describing the violence as “indigenous” arising from “Indian occupation”, Khan warned India of playing a “dangerous game of upping the ante against Pakistan in a nuclearised environment”.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly via videoconference, Khan went over much of the ground he covered in his last address on the same occasion. He began by donning the mantle of a statesman by speaking of gradual erosion of the ideals that built the United Nations, the need for debt relief and climate change.

However, the Pakistan PM veered into the neighbourhood shortly and attacked the RSS for promoting Islamophobia. He sought UN intervention over the “impending genocide” in J&K. Last year, he had sought UN intervention as he had feared a bloodbath when “eight million Kashmiris” would come out on the streets.

In another major speech from the neighbourhood, Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli has extended an olive branch to India after months of political and diplomatic acrimony. In his address, Oli supported India over its proposal for a common definition of terrorism — CCIT or Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

“Nepal condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, or other activities inflicting pain and suffering on innocent people. We call for an early conclusion of a comprehensive convention against terrorism,” he said.