UNGA: Pakistan envoy attempts to pass off Gaza girl as Kashmiri

The Pakistani representative attempted to attack India following External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's hard-hitting speech at the platform by pointing out the issue of alleged atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir.

Trying to attack India back, Pakistan's ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi  showcased an image of of a woman whose face was peppered with wounds.

She was quoted as saying :"This is the face of Indian democracy."

Her move only backfired when later it emerged that the photo she showed was that of 17-year-old Gazan woman named Rawya abu Jom.

According to media reports, she was injured by shrapnel during an airstrike by Israeli forces and the photo was taken by photojournalist Heidi Levine while covering the Gaza War in 2014.

Lashing out at Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said Pakistan is known to the world as "a terrorist state".

Raising the issue of terrorism at UNGA, Swaraj criticised Pakistan for turning their country into a hub of terrorism.

During her address on Saturday, Swaraj said: "Both India and Pakistan became Independent in 1947. While India is known as an IT superpower, the world knows Pakistan as the terrorist state in the world."

Swaraj even reasoned out for such a difference in perception towards India and Pakistan. She said: "There have been multiple governments in India since Independence, but all worked towards the development of the country unlike Pakistan."

With an attempt to unmask Pakistan at the international stage, Swaraj vehemently attacked the neighbouring country, saying: "While we (India) made Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Management (IIM), All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Pakistan created Jaish-e- Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen."

"While India made scholars, scientists, doctors, Pakistan created jihadis" she added.

The external affairs minister even urged all nations at the UNGA to view terrorism through a single lens. "Time has come when we all should introspect and perceive terrorism in the similar manner".

Swaraj's strong rhetoric during her address at the UNGA came after Pakistan prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi accused India of ignoring the plight of Kashmiris, a day ago.

He said the 'struggle of the people in the region is being brutally suppressed by India'.

Apart from attacking Pakistan, the Indian external affairs minister highlighted several schemes like Jan Dhan Yojana, Mudra Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana that the present central government has brought into force since coming to power in 2014 for the benefit of the poor people.

She stated several present crises in the world like terrorism, climate change, hatred, security issues need to be solved for the progress of the nation.

"We prepared an agenda for 2015-2030 two years ago. Now we need to achieve our goals if we have to come out of these crises," she said.

"We all need to take bold decisions" the external affairs minister added.

Image: Maleeha Lodhi Twitter page