How Pakistani media reported Sushma Swaraj’s UNGA address

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attends a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (not pictured) at the Palace Hotel, on the sidelines of the the United Nations General Assembly in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Darren Ornitz

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday launched a stinging attack against Pakistan, accusing the western neighbour of funding and harbouring terrorists. In her speech at the 72nd session of United Nations General Assembly, Swaraj said that while India has been producing doctors and engineers, Pakistan is busy building terrorist networks.

“We (India) produced scholars, doctors, engineers. What have you produced? You have produced terrorists,” Swaraj said in her speech in Hindi. “Doctors save people from death; terrorists send them to death… We produced IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and space reserach centre, you produced Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Haqqani Network and Hizbul Mujahideen.”

The speech has not gone down well with Pakistan.  Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi, in her response to Swaraj’s speech, called India as the “mother of terrorism” in South Asia.

“Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav has confessed of committing terrorism in Pakistan,” she said, adding that India is trying to divert attention from the alleged brutalities against Kashmiris.

Here is a look at how Pakistan media reacted to Swaraj’s speech:

Dawn

Dawn describes Sushma Swaraj’ speech as “vicious attack”.

Pakistani daily Dawn described Swaraj’s speech as a “vicious attack on Pakistan”. In an article titled “Swaraj launches vicious attack on Pakistan in UN speech”, Dawn reported that Swaraj “not only targetted Pakistan’s current rulers but also questioned the commitment of the country’s founding fathers to peace and stability”.

The article further described India’s efforts to improve relations with Pakistan as “so-called peace overtures”, and said that Swaraj blamed “Pakistan for failing to respond” to these efforts. It went on to add that hundreds of Kashmiri and Sikhs protesters were outside the UN building in New York at the time of Swaraj’s speech.

Express Tribune

The Express Tribune described Swaraj’s speech as an “angry retort”. The front-page article, with the headline “In angry retort, India calls Pakistan ‘terror factory'”, stated that “India responded with resentment on Saturday to Prime Minister Shahid khaqan Abbasi’s assertions of brutality in Kashmir”.

Pakistan Today

Pakistan Today calls Swaraj speech as “hard-hitting”.

Pakistan Today described Sushma Swaraj’s speech as a “Very sharp and strong attack on Pakistan”. In an article titled “Sushma Swaraj says Pakistan created ‘terror factories'”, the paper cited quotes from Swaraj’s speech in which she blamed Pakistan for harbouring terrorists. The article describes her speech as “hard-hitting” and also mentioned the fact that the speech was appreciated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Nation

The Nation stressed on Sushma Swaraj’s assertion that Pakistan did not reciprocate peace process forwarded by India. The article titled, “Pakistan aborted peace process, claims India”, stressed on the sour relations between the two nations. “India accuses Islamabad of training, arming and infiltrating militants into Kashmir, a claim that Pakistan has denied. On Friday, the Pakistani military said six people were killed and over two dozen wounded in firing by Indian troops near the Kashmir border,” the article read.