Sushma Swaraj takes on Pakistan in a passionate speech at UNGA

“If Pakistan thinks that by committing acts of terrorism or by giving misleading speeches it can steal a part of India, then I want to state it in a very strict manner that such dream of yours will never be successful.”

“Kashmir is a part of India and will always remain so.”

Strong words by our External Affairs Minister at the United Nations General Assembly. After young diplomat Eenam Gambhir's stinging reply to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s UN speech, where she called Pakistan ‘the ivy league of terrorism’, the whole country was waiting to hear what Sushma Swaraj had to say.  And sure enough, she delivered a speech which made everyone sit up and take notice. Speaking in Hindi and touching upon India’s various campaigns for development like Digital India and the Clean India drive, she finally came to what the whole country was waiting for, a message for Pakistan.

“There are countries in this world who sow terrorism, reap terrorism and then sell it. Sheltering terrorists has become a hobby for some nations,” she said, pointing a not-so-very-subtle finger our neighbour. She mentioned the recent Uri attack as well, bringing everyone's attention to it by mentioning the 9/11 attacks against US as a prelude.

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Emphasising the point that terrorism is an act against human rights, she elaborated, “If we want to fight terrorism, then everyone must admit that terrorism is the biggest violation of human rights. Then we need to see, who is giving shelter to terrorists. Terrorists don’t have their own banks or arms factory, then how do they get money and how do they buy weaponry?”

She added, “Afghanistan also raised the same question to some countries just days ago.”

After making Indian stand clear on matters of terrorism and Kashmir, she gave a befitting reply to the Pak PM, who in his UNGA speech mentioned about certain terms and conditions between the two countries. She questioned Sharif, “Did we put any condition when we invited the Pakistani PM to India for our PM’s oath ceremony? We began the friendship all over again in the last two years, something which had not been attempted ever before. But what did we get in return for that? Pathankot, Uri and Bahadur Ali?”

She claimed that Bahadur Ali is the living proof of Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism, but every attempt of questioning Pakistan about the issue is met with denial, even after providing giving legitimate proofs and evidence.

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Both Swaraj and Gambhir proved India’s woman power at the international forum where it only took them six minutes, both combined, to make deep impact.

Feature Image Credit: Ndtv