Pakistan, India accuse each other of stoking terrorism

A day after India provided a dossier to some UN Security Council members accusing militants from Pakistan of attempting an attack in the disputed Indian territory Kashmir, Islamabad reciprocated by giving UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres a dossier accusing India of stoking terrorism in Pakistan.

The tit-for-tat moves come ahead of India joining the 15-member council for a two-year term starting January 1 next year, Reuters reported.

Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram accused India of violating international law, the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions by sponsoring terrorism and said Pakistan called on Guterres and the international community “to take note of Indian terrorism and subversion against Pakistan and to prevail on India to desist from these illegal and aggressive activities.”

Reuters reported however that a spokesperson for India’s mission to the United Nations in New York denied the charges.

“Pakistan can cry hoarse from the rooftops. But they cannot change the fact that they are the epicenter of terrorism,” the spokesperson said. “Their lies have no takers.”

The Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan, with both claiming Kashmir in full but ruling it in part.

UN peacekeepers have been deployed since 1949 to observe a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.