United Nations, Sep 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) In a sabre-rattling speech, Pakistan's Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif stammered out a threat, " India, India, India must make no mistake about it", that his country will take "as an act of war" the Indus waters issue.
Speaking at the General Assembly on Friday, he did not admit why India put the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, but said, "Any attempt to stop, impede, or divert Pakistan's share of waters will be treated as an act of war".
India put the 1960 treaty on sharing Indus River waters on hold after the religiously motivated attack by Pakistan-based terrorists last year in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, targeting Hindus and Muslims.
Sharif, in a characteristic Pavlovian reaction to UN platforms, raised the Kashmir issue, alleging human rights abuse by India in the General Assembly chamber.
But outside, Balochis and Pashtuns were protesting his government's atrocities against them, killing women and children, torturing those of these ethnicities, and indiscriminately arresting and causing the disappearances of people.
In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, its forces have killed more than 90 people in recent months while brutally putting down protests against Islamabad's attempts to bring in more outsiders and manipulate what it calls "elections", according to a human rights group,
In a case of malapropism, as he fulminated, Sharif exposed Islamabad's own weakness in Kashmir.
He declaimed, mangling grammar, "Kashmir has and always will be Pakistan's jugular vein".
The jugular vein is a particularly vulnerable spot in the anatomy where injuries can be fatal, rather than a point of strength or protection.
Sharif asserted that Kashmiri people are waiting for the UN to fulfil its "solemn commitment of a free and impartial plebiscite under its auspices".
But Pakistan itself sabotaged the plebiscite because it flouted Security Council Resolution 47 adopted by on April 21, 1948.
That resolution ordered Pakistan to withdraw its forces, its "tribesmen" and its citizens from Kashmir before a plebiscite.
Since then, Kashmiris have made their choice for India known through their participation in elections.
Sharif accused India of Islamophobia, but outside there was also a protest against persecution of Christians in Pakistan.
A group of UN human rights experts in April expressed concern over the abduction of Hindu and Christian women and underage girls, some as young as 12, who are forcibly "converted" during "marriages".
Temples and churches have come under attack in Pakistan, and many Hindus and Christians have been lynched after being accused of "blasphemy".
Pakistan also has so-called "blasphemy laws" with the death penalty that are deployed against religious minorities.
Sharif, for whom not only staying in office but also life and liberty depends on the military, poured fulsome praise on his boss, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir.
He gave him credit for Pakistan's so-far unsuccessful diplomacy to end the Gulf conflict and for the attacks on India.
In an indirect dig at India, which is seeking a permanent seat, Sharif opposed Security Council reform with the addition of permanent seats, which was supported by a vast majority of the leaders at the summit.
While the Security Council "must become more representative", it must not reflect "the ambitions of a select few", he asserted.
Source: IANS
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