A day after Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, attempted to pass off the photo of a Palestinian victim as 'evidence of atrocities' on Kashmiris, Indian diplomat Paulomi Tripathi, called out the act as an effort ‘to divert attention from Pakistan's role as the hub of global terrorism.'
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Tripathi said that Pakistan attempted to do so by 'callously' waving an incorrect photo of the Palestinian girl.
"Pakistan misled the assembly by displaying the picture to spread falsehood about India. They used a fake picture to push a completely false narrative", she said.
Tripathi then responded to Pakistan's 'photo statement' by showing a picture of Lt Ummer Fayaz, who was killed by militants in May earlier this year in Jammu and Kashmir, when he was off-duty to attend a wedding in his family.
Alongside the picture of Fayaz, Tripathi also held up the picture of the Gaza victim that was used by Lodhi, as she said:
We are constrained to show a photo that reflects the real picture of pain inflicted by nefarious designs of Pakistan on India. This is a real and not a fake picture of Lt Ummer Fayaz, a young officer from J&K. He was brutally tortured and killed by Pakistan-supported terrorists. This is the reality that Permanent Representative of Pakistan (Maleeha Lodhi) sought to obfuscate.
Maleeha Lodhi, on Sunday, had held up a photograph of a woman whose face was riddled with alleged pellet gun wounds on the floor of the UN General Assembly.
“This is the face of Indian democracy,” Lodhi remarked.
However, the photo is in fact that of 17-year-old Rawya abu Joma’a of Gaza, who was injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza strip in 2014.
Pakistan Rakes up Kashmir
Pakistan, meanwhile, slammed India on the issue of Kashmir.
Speaking on behalf of Pakistan, Tipu Usman, counselor at Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, said, "Kashmiris want freedom form brutal Indian occupation".
They will continue to rise again and again, he said.
Kashmiris will take bullet after bullet; pellet after pellet but will never give up. The real issue is of human life, of human eyes, of children and infants blinded foreverTipu Usman, counselor at Permanent Mission of Pakistan to UN
Usman alleged that India's diversionary tactics will not change the situation on ground.
"It is the situation on ground that India has to answer for. It is the call for legality, morality and conscience that it has to answer for," he said.
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