Seat-sharing at crucial stage in Mahakutami

United Nations: India launched a frontal attack on Pakistan at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, calling it “an expert in trying to mask malevolence with verbal duplicity,” accusing it of funding and glorifying terrorists and warning of a “conflagration” if terrorism was not rooted out.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj blamed Pakistan’s continued support of terror for stalled peace efforts between the subcontinental neighbours, and defended India’s record on human rights, saying there was no bigger transgressor of rights than terrorists. Pakistan “glorifies killers” and “refuses to see the blood of innocents,” she said. In her address to the General Assembly, Swaraj listed the Indian government’s development programmes, aimed at achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, before describing climate change and terrorism as the “biggest challenge of our era”.