United Nations: In a strong attack against Pakistan, India told the UN General Assembly on Saturday that its neighbour's commitment to terrorism as an instrument of official policy has not abated one bit.
In her address to the General Debate of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly here, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj described terrorism as an 'existential threat' to humanity.
Even as the perpetrators of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York met their fate, Swaraj said the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack Hafiz Saeed still roams the streets of Pakistan with impunity.
"Pakistan's commitment to terrorism as an instrument of official policy has not abated one bit. Neither has its belief in hypocrisy," Swaraj said.
"The biggest challenge of our era comes from the existential threats of climate change and terrorism. We imagined that the arrival of the 21st Century would bring with it an age of common good, defined by cooperation in the quest for peace and prosperity. But here in New York, the horrific tragedy of 9/11, and in Mumbai the catastrophe of 26/11 became the nightmares that shattered our dreams," Swaraj said.
She said the demon of terrorism now stalks the world, at a faster pace somewhere, a slower pace elsewhere, but life-threatening everywhere.
"In our case, terrorism is bred not in some faraway land, but across our border to the west. Our neighbour's expertise is not restricted to spawning grounds for terrorism; it is also an expert in trying to mask malevolence with verbal duplicity," Swaraj said.
The Indian leader told the world leaders at the General Assembly that the most startling evidence of Pakistan's duplicity was the fact that Osama Bin Laden, the architect and ideologue of 9/11 terror attack was given safe haven in the country.
Even after the world's most wanted terrorist was killed by American special forces, "Pakistan continued to behave as if nothing had happened," she said.
"America had declared Osama bin Laden it's most dangerous enemy, and launched an exhaustive, worldwide search to bring him to justice. What America perhaps could not comprehend was that Osama would get sanctuary in a country that claimed to be America's friend and ally: Pakistan," she said.
Eventually, America's intelligence services discovered the truth of this hypocrisy, and its special forces delivered justice.
"What is heartening is that the world is no longer ready to believe Islamabad," she said citing that Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has put Pakistan on notice over terror funding.
Developed nations must lift the deprived with financial, technical resources
India on Saturday told the UN General Assembly that countries that have exploited the nature for their immediate needs cannot abdicate their responsibilities and developed nations must lift the deprived with financial and technical resources.
Under-developed and developing nations are the worst victims of climate change and they neither have the capacity nor the resources to meet this crisis, she said.
She asserted that the principle of common and differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities was reiterated in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
Swaraj told the 193-member UN body that India has risen to meet the challenge of climate change.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in partnership with France launched the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
The ISA is a treaty-based body which intends to promote solar energy in the 121 tropical countries.
Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron were conferred this week with the UN's highest environmental honour, Champions of the Earth Award, for their contributions.
The two leaders are recognised in the Policy Leadership category for their pioneering work in championing the ISA and promoting new areas of levels of cooperation on environmental action, including Macron's work on the Global Pact for the Environment and Modi's unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022, she said.
Swaraj said that the ISA now has 68 nations and in March, India and France chaired the Founding Conference of the ISA in which 120 countries participated.
"Our prime minister has described his vision of sustainable and available energy in a typically apt phrase: One Sun, One Grid. This breakthrough concept can become the solution we seek to the problems," Swaraj said.
Earlier this week in the high-level meeting on climate change convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Swaraj said India is willing to take the lead in climate action and the country's commitment to combat climate change is rooted in its ethos, which considers Earth as mother.
India is the sixth largest producer of renewable energy, and fifth largest producer of solar energy in the world.
It has set a target of generating 175 Giga Watts of solar and wind energy by 2022. India has installed over 300 million LED bulbs saving $2 billion and 4GW of electricity.
She also cited the example of the Kochi airport which is the first solar-powered airport in the world.
The Cochin International Airport was also among six of the world's most outstanding environmental change-makers recognised this week with the Champions of the Earth Award.
The airport took home the award for Entrepreneurial Vision for its leadership in the use of sustainable energy.
"The UN Environment said that Cochin is showing the world that our ever-expanding network of global movement doesn't have to harm the environment.
"As the pace of society continues to increase, the world's first fully solar-powered airport is proof positive that green business is good business," she added.
