Pakistan carrying out war crimes using terror as state policy: Govt

Govt also strongly rejected Sharif's call for 'a serious and sustained' bilateral dialogue 'without any conditions'

In its sharpest attack on Pakistan, government on Thursday called it a "terrorist state" which carries out "war crimes" by using terrorism as an "instrument of state policy", after Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif glorified Hizbul commander Burhan Wani at the United Nations.

India also strongly rejected Sharif's call for "a serious and sustained" bilateral dialogue "without any conditions", saying that Pakistan, which "seems to be run by a war machine rather than a government", wants talks with a "gun in its hand".

Strongly reacting to Sharif's remarks at the UN General Assembly session, Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar described them as full of "threat, bluster and complete disregard of facts" as he said glorification of Wani by him at the world forum is an act of "self-incrimination" by Pakistan.

He said it is "shocking" that a leader of a nation can "glorify a self-declared self-advertised terrorist" at a forum such as the United Nations General Assembly.

"We heard the glorification of a terrorist. Burhan Wani was a self-declared commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, this organisation is widely acknowledged internationally as a terrorist group," Akbar said at a briefing to Indian reporters here responding to Sharif's General Debate address at the UN.

"This is self-incrimination by the Pakistan Prime Minister. We just heard a speech full of threat, bluster and what can only be described as rising immaturity and complete disregard of facts," he said.

In his nearly 20-minute speech, almost half of which was focussed on Kashmir, Sharif had hailed Wani - who was killed on July 8 by the Indian forces resulting in tensions in the Valley - as a "young leader" and the "symbol" of the Kashmiris' freedom movement.

Exercising India's Right of Reply to Sharif's "long tirade" about the situation in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Eenam Gambhir made a strong rebuttal.

"The worst violation of human rights is terrorism.

"When practiced as an instrument of state policy it is a war crime," she said.

"What my country and our other neighbours are facing today is Pakistan's long-standing policy of sponsoring terrorism, the consequences of which have spread well beyond our region," she added.

Gambhir said India sees in Pakistan "a terrorist state" which channelises billions of dollars, much of it diverted from international aid, to training, financing and supporting terrorist groups as militant proxies against it neighbours.

In a reference to JeM chief Masood Azhar and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, she said terrorist entities and their leaders, including many designated by the UN, continue to roam thestreets of Pakistan freely and operate with State's support.