Pakistan ducks question on UN photo gaffe, blames India for pellets

Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday dodged a question on the recent photograph gaffe by its top diplomat in the UN General Assembly, saying the incident cannot be used to deny an "indisputable fact" that Indian security forces were using pellet guns in Kashmir.

Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, on the floor of the UN General Assembly on Saturday, held up a photograph of an injured Gaza girl whose face was peppered with alleged pellets and portrayed it as a Kashmiri pellet gun victim.

Asked about his reaction to the gaffe, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Nafess Zakaria side-stepped the question at the weekly briefing here and instead blamed Indian security forces for blinding Kashmiris.

"India cannot deny around 80 Kashmiris completely blinded deliberately by its forces and blinding of over 200 innocent Kashmiris in one eye," he claimed.

"India cannot deny injuring thousands of Kashmiris using pellet guns... It is an indisputable fact," Zakaria claimed.

He also accused India of playing the role of a spoiler in Afghanistan and under the garb of development assistance using the country's soil to carry out subversive activities inside Pakistan.

"We have evidence to this effect, which was shared with the US, the Secretary General of the UN and also with the Afghan authorities," Zakaria said.