15101962  Extract from the speech made by Mr. Cheema, representative of Pakistan in the General Assembly meeting No. 1153 held on 15th October 1962.

15101962  Extract from the speech made by Mr. Cheema, representative of Pakistan in the General Assembly meeting No. 1153 held on 15th October 1962.

Mr. CHEEMA (Pakistan): It was not my intention to ask for the floor this afternoon, but the Permanent Representative of India has again seen fit to throw out a challenge on several issues which makes it incumbent on my delegation to exercise its right of reply.

The Indian representative made several allegations, particularly of misquoting and quoting out of context, of ignorance of our own legislation of flirting with China and so on and so forth. He has also been pleased to say that both India and Pakistan should be ashamed of what has transpired during the past seven years. I should like to make it clear that, so far as Pakistan is concerned, it has nothing to be ashamed of, and has no need to be apologetic about anything it has done. In fact, India has a lot to be ashamed of, if India only bears In mind the classical mockery of a seven-year-long trial of Sheikh Abdullah, the accredited leader of the people of Kashmir, punctuated by offers of premiership, if India only bears in mind the treatment of minorities, particularly of Muslims, the systematic and pre-planned communal riots, at times under minor pretexts such as the slaughter of a cow, if India only, bears in mind the treatment which it has meted out to the Nagas, if India only bears in mind what it is doing with its lofty claims to secularism with its grandiose claim of non violence, and yet at the same time preaching that it is a secular State, giving equal rights to all citizens.

I am afraid that there seems to be a basic misconception about Islam, not only in the mind of the Indian representative, but also in the minds of some other people. I would like to submit that Islam is not a matter of private rites or ritual, it is a way of living, it is a comprehensive sheme of life, it is a political and a social movement. Islam is the ideology on which the constitution of Pakistan is based. We are not ashamed of it, and we are not hypocritical about it. We preach what we practice and we practice what we preach, unlike India, which is more hypocritical in its preaching and in its profession than it is in actual exercise and implementation.

It is very difficult for me at the moment to give a comprehensive reply on each and every issue raised by the Indian representative, and I would therefore request that my delegation be given the right of a detailed reply on some future occasion.