Shehbaz Sharif Silent On Hafiz Saeed Questions At UN

Sharif Avoids Media Questions

When the Pakistani Prime Minister was entering the UN headquarters, the media shouted, "Prime Minister, when will you stop harbouring terrorists?", to which the Pakistani Prime Minister turned the other way. As Sharif was exiting the UN headquarters, the media asked, "When will you prosecute LeT chief Hafiz Saeed", to which the Pakistani Prime Minister did not reply and left.

India Raises Terror Concerns

Just a day before, India had at the United Nations lambasted Pakistan for emphasizing on territorial disputes and cross-border terrorism while ignoring the economic and social issues at home.

In a statement at the UN Human Rights Council where India was exercising the right of reply, Indian envoy Kshitij Tyagi asked Pakistan to develop instead of dreaming to grab the lands of others or supporting terror.

"Pakistan would better serve its people by focusing on development, rather than by coveting territory of others or exporting terror, because neither these nor its theatrics in the Council would help repay the loans its economy survives on," he said as per ANI.

Tyagi Raises POK Human Rights Issues

Kshitij Tyagi highlighted the internal hypocrisy of Islamabad, which includes civilian suppression and bad humanitarian situation in POK where protests are gunned down and new restrictions are imposed on food, medicine and fuel supplies.

He said, "This Council was told last Friday of scores of civilians killed since June in the territory Pakistan occupies, of students arrested in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and of food and medicine held back. When those accounts were given, Pakistan's answer was a point of order. If any delegation in this room meets every objective criterion for this Council's scrutiny, it is Pakistan.”

Terrorism Issue In Focus

The exchange with the Pakistani PM refocuses attention on the Hafiz Saeed matter as India persists in raising the issue of terror networks based in Pakistan. The NIA has included Hafiz Saeed in its supplementary chargesheet against those involved in the Pahalgam attack. The agency has linked the attack to a conspiracy with LeT/TRF operatives based in Pakistan.

The exchange of questions was striking because the inquiries did not concern some broad ideological or political dispute. They were about Saeed, a LeT founder based in Pakistan who has been named as a terrorist by India and is wanted in the case of the 26/11 Mumbai attack.