‘Terrorism is not bred in some faraway land, but from across our border’: Sushma Swaraj’s top 10 quotes

Here are 10 topics that Swaraj covered in her address at the UNGA:

>Sushma Swaraj began her statement at the UNGA by congratulating Ma Fernanda Espinosa on assuming the position as the President of the 73rd Session of the UNGA, EAM said that the first woman to occupy this eminent chair was an Indian Smt. Vijayalakshmi Pandit, in 1953

READ | Sushma Swaraj flays Pakistan at UNGA, says India cannot pursue talks with a country that ‘glorifies killers’

>She spoke about various schemes that have been launched under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, through which India has initiated unprecedented economic and social transformation which will help the country achieve its Sustainable Development goals much before time i.e. 2030.

>All the schemes that Swaraj spoke about had the welfare of women at their core. “At the heart of Prime Minister Modi’s transformative vision is a radical idea: The uplift of any nation is best achieved through the all-round empowerment of women,” she said.

>Swaraj said, “The biggest test of our era comes from the existential threats of climate change and terrorism.”

>Regarding the challenge of climate change, she said, “If we have to save the world from the adverse effects of climate change, then developed nations must lift the deprived with financial and technical resources.”

>On cross-border terrorism, she said that in India’s case, terrorism is bred not in some faraway land, but across the country’s border. India’s neighbour’s expertise is not restricted to spawning grounds for terrorism; it is also an expert in trying to mask malevolence with verbal duplicity.

>Steering the topic towards multiple stalling of Indo-Pak peace talks, she said, “We are accused of sabotaging the process of talks. This is a complete lie. We believe that talks are only rational means to resolve the most complex of disputes. Talks with Pakistan have begun many times. If they stopped, it was only because of their behavior.”

>She questioned Pakistan’s stand on human rights: “Who can be a greater transgressor of human rights than a terrorist? Those who take innocent human lives in pursuit of war by other means are defenders of inhuman behavior, not of human rights. Pakistan glorifies killers; it refuses to see the blood of innocents.” She also refuted previous years’ allegations where Pakistan’s representative displayed photographs as “proof” of “human rights violations” by India. The photographs turned out to be from another country. Similar false accusations have become part of its standard rhetoric.

>India lambasted the lack of progress at the UN for adopting a global convention on international terrorism, saying it is because of such inactions that terrorists with a bounty on their head are celebrated and glorified with postage stamps. She said that India had proposed a draft document in 1996 on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) at the UN but even till today, that draft has remained a draft, because UN member states cannot agree on a common language. “On the one hand, we want to fight terrorism; on the other, we cannot define it.

>Concluding her speech with the need for reforms in the UNSC, Swaraj said, “The United Nations must accept that it needs fundamental reform. Reform cannot be cosmetic. We need change the institution’s head and heart to make both compatible to contemporary reality. Reform must begin today; tomorrow could be too late.”