After 'Terroristan', India has a new phrase to describe Pakistan

NEW DELHI: After famously conferring on it the title 'Terroristan', and after evocatively describing it as the 'Ivy League of terrorism', India yesterday coined another phrase to denote Pakistan - "special terrorist zone".

India was making a play on the title 'special economic zone', which is given to an area within a country that has special business-boosting economic regulations different from that in the rest of the country. In talking about Pakistan at the United Nations (UN) yesterday, India tweaked that title to "special terrorist zone", to describe the country's continuing support for terror and its provision of safe havens for terrorists.

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"We urge the Council to call on Pakistan to end cross border infiltration; to dismantle special terrorist zones, safe havens and sanctuaries, to take verifiable actions, including on terror financing...", said Mini Devi Kumam, second secretary, India's Permanent Mission at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

Kumam was countering an allegation made by Pakistan earlier at the forum, about human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. She said terrorism "is the grossest violation" of human rights.

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"The real problem in the State of Jammu and Kashmir is terrorism, which has constantly received sustenance from Pakistan and territories under its control," said Kumam.

Last September, at the UN General Assembly in New York, India said "Pakistan is now 'Terroristan', with a flourishing industry producing and exporting global terrorism." This comment made news not just in the South Asian media, but also in the British and US press. Almost exactly a year before the 'Terroristan' comment, India described Pakistan as “the Ivy League of terrorism”, castigating it for financing and supporting terrorist groups it uses as proxies against India.

“The land of Taxila, one of the greatest learning centres of ancient times, is now host to the Ivy League of terrorism. It attracts aspirants and apprentices from all over the world. The effect of its toxic curriculum is felt across the globe,” said India's representative at the UN General Assembly two years ago.

Yesterday, India's representative at the UNHRC said Pakistan has made a habit of misusing the Geneva forum to make misleading references about internal matters pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistan has long been attempting to mask its territorial ambitions and use of terrorism as a state policy under the guise of concern for human rights," said Kumam.

She also pointed out the incongruity of a country that oppresses its minorities talking about human rights violations.

"This Council should be mindful that the dubious concern for human rights is coming from a country, which has systematically abused and violated the human rights of the people in Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir," Kumam said.

She was referring to the Pakistani state and army killing and enforcing disapperances of political dissidents in its Balochistan Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.