Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday took a sharp swipe at Pakistan, apart from China, in his address at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as he spoke on multilateralism and the global challenges in the current times. Islamabad was slammed by New Delhi for hosting terrorist Osama Bin Laden, and the 2001 attack on Parliament also found a mention in his address. His comments followed remarks by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto on Kashmir.
“We are focused today on the urgency of reforming multilateralism. We will naturally have our views. There is an ongoing convergence at least that this can’t be delayed further. The effectiveness of the United Nations depends on its capacity in facing key challenges of our times – be it pandemic, climate change, conflicts or terrorism,” Jaishankar said in his address.
“While we search for the best solutions, what are those that we must never accept include the normalisation of such threats. The question of justifying what the world regards as unacceptable should not even arise. It certainly applies to states’ sponsorship of cross- border terrorism. Nor can hosting Osama Bin Laden and attacking a neighbouring Parliament can serve as credentials for sermonizing before this council,” the minister further added. Bin Laden was behind the September 11 World Trade Center in New York 21 years ago, and he was eliminated by the United States nearly a decade back in Pakistan’s Abbottabad.
Jaishankar’s comments were made after Bilawal Bhutto termed Kashmir as an “unfinished agenda”. Speaking about what he defined as “democratisation required to empower UN”, he shared a clip of his address on Twitter and wrote: “Not expansion in the elitist club of permanent member, more authoritarian vote power. Of course Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of UNSC and a test of multilateralism.”
India’s Foreign Minister also hit out at Beijing as he said: “On the challenge of terrorism, even as the world is coming together with a more collective response, multilateral platforms are being misused to justify and protect perpetrators.” It was a tacit reference to China, which has placed holds and blocks on bids by India and the US on many occasions to list Pakistan-based terrorists like Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.
(With inputs from PTI)
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