Prime Minister Imran Khan said that India was "obliterating the distinct Kashmiri identity" through it illegal measures in the occupied territory, a he addressed the 75th session United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) via video link on Thursday.
"While the Nazis' hate was directed at the Jews, the RSS directs it at the Muslims, and to a lesser extent, the Christians," he said, adding that the extremist ideologists believe that India is exclusively for Hindus and others are not equal citizens.
"The secularism of Gandhi and Nehru has been replaced by the dream of creating a Hindu Rashtra, by subjugating, even cleansing India's 200 million Muslims and other minorities," he said.
PM Imran spoke about the RSS's attempt to destroy the Babri Masjid and the massacre of 2,000 Muslims in the Gujarat riots. "And this was [Gujarat massacre] under the watch of chief minister Modi," he said.
The premier spoke about India's discriminatory policies for Muslims during the pandemic, saying that the government blamed the minority group for spreading the coronavirus and they were denied medical treatment on many occasions.
"Last February, Muslims faced target killings with police complicity in Delhi," he said.
Referring to it as something that was "unprecedented in history", PM Imran said that the Hindutva ideology sought to persecute 300 million Muslims, Christians and Sikhs.
PM Imran then spoke about India's August 5 attempt to annex occupied Kashmir. "Mr President, India illegally sought to occupy Kashmir, adding that this was against the commitments India had made to the people of Kashmir and the world.
"About 13,000 Kashmiri youth were incarcerated and thousands tortured," he said. "Indian occupation forces have used brute force including pellet guns against peaceful protesters," he said.
"The Kashmiri media and those daring to raise their voices are being systematically harassed through draconian laws," he said, drawing the world's attention to the Indian forces' brutal act of killing hundreds of Kashmiris in fake encounters and not even handing their bodies back to their relatives.
He called on the world community to prosecute the Indian civil and military personnel for their "crimes against humanity".
PM Imran said that India was attempting to obliterate the distinct Kashmiri identity by altering the area's demography, to escape the plebiscite in line with the UN resolutions.
"This action is in violation of the UN charter, [Security] Council resolutions and international law, particularly 4th Geneva Convention," he said. "Changing demographic structure of an occupied territory is a war crime."
PM praises Pakistan's smart lockdown policy
Speaking about his government's smart lockdown policy, the prime minister said that Pakistan opened up the agriculture and construction sector.
He credited the government's Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme and other policies towards steering Pakistan out of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the prime minister cautioned that Pakistan was not yet "out of the woods".
"We are not yet out of the woods like no country is out of the woods yet," he said, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The prime minister spoke out against the flow of illicit financing from developing countries to the developed ones. He said that these "stolen resources" that flow from the developing countries to others weakens the foreign exchange and promotes property.
"If this policy continues, it will accentuate the difference between the rich and the poor," said PM Imran, adding that rich countries lacked the political will to "curb this criminal activity".
"Eventually, it will spark off a bigger global crisis, a far bigger global crisis than the migration crisis poses," he said, adding that rich states cannot talk about human rights when they provide protection to money launderers and their ill-gotten wealth.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that there are robust anti-money laundering regimes, adding that he calls upon the UN "to take the lead in efforts to build a global framework, to stem the illicit financial flows and ensure speedy repatriation of stolen wealth".
"It is important to realise that the aid that flows from the rich to the developing world is minuscule compared to the massive outflows by our corrupt elites," he said.
PM Imran calls for world to observe an international day to combat Islamophobia
The premier also touched upon the issue of Islamophobia during his speech, condemning the rising incidences of the burning of the Holy Quran and the publication of blasphemous material against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
"Muslims continue to be targeted with impunity in many countries," he said. "Our shrines are being destroyed, our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) insulted, the Holy Quran burnt, and all this in the name of freedom of speech."
PM Imran on climate change
The prime minister said that Pakistan's contribution to carbon emission was very low when one considered many countries in the world but it was one of the countries most affected by the climate change.
The prime minister said that his government has launched an "extremely ambitious" plan to combat climate change by planting 10 billion trees over the next three years.
He called on world leaders to abide by the provisions of the Paris agreement on climate change. "Commitments made through the Paris agreement must be fulfilled, in particular, the commitment to mobilise $100billion annually as climate finance," he said.
The general debate of the 193-member assembly, which is traditionally a high-profile annual UN event, opened on September 22. However, this year it is a slimmed-down affair, with world leaders staying away from New York because of the coronavirus pandemic.
They will be contributing set-piece speeches via video link.
“I expect that the prime minister will once again raise the cause of the Kashmiri people for self-determination and aazadi [freedom] from Indian oppression," Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN Munir Akram told APP.
Akram added that the prime minister would also talk about Pakistan’s facilitation of and hopes for the peace process in Afghanistan, its successful response to the coronavirus crisis, debt relief for developing countries, and other international issues in his wide-ranging address.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to speak on September 26, a day after PM Imran's address.
