On Friday, India’s young diplomat, Sneha Dubey, delivered a befitting retort to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in the UN General Assembly after he, once again, brought up the controversial Kashmir issue in his address. With her remarks, Dubey took on the tradition of Indian diplomats strongly confronting Pakistani leaders at the annual event.

“We exercise our Right of Reply to one more attempt by the leader of Pakistan to tarnish the image of this august Forum by bringing in matters internal to my country, and going so far as to spew falsehoods on the world stage,” Dubey said in the UN General Assembly.

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Dubey then went on to deliver a confident and sharp speech in response to Pakistan’s age-old rants related to Kashmir territory and its ownership. The young diplomats’ reply to Pakistan made her a topic of conversation among the social media users who applauded her confidence at the forum. It has also reminded many about the tradition of Indian diplomats taking on the neighbouring nation’s leaders time and again.

The tradition of fielding young diplomats to deliver the Right of Reply to Pakistani leaders began during the tenure of then Indian envoy at the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin with a clear cut message that India’s young diplomats are enough to take on Pakistan’s leaders at the global forum.

In September 2016, then First Secretary in the Indian Mission to the UN Eenam Gambhir delivered India’s Right of Reply to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif”s UN General Assembly address.

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“The world has not yet forgotten that the trail of that dastardly attack led all the way to Abbottabad in Pakistan. The land of Taxila, one of the greatest learning centres of ancient times, is now host to the Ivy League of terrorism. It attracts aspirants and apprentices from all over the world. The effect of its toxic curriculum are felt across the globe, said Gambhir at the time addressing Pakistan’s sympathy for the terrorist organisations.

Gambhir also took on Islamabad’s then UN envoy Maleeha Lodhi after she responded to late External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s address to the UN General Debate.

“In its short history, Pakistan has become a geography synonymous with terror,” said Gambhir again in her Right To Reply address on Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi speech in 2017.

In 2019, another young Indian woman diplomat Vidisha Maitra, First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, delivered a powerful Right of Reply from the UN General Assembly floor to Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi.

“Words matter in diplomacy. Invocation of phrases such as ‘pogrom’, ‘bloodbath’, ‘racial superiority, ‘pick up the gun’ and ‘fight to the end’ reflect a medieval mindset and not a 21st-century vision,” said Maitra.

“We would request you to refresh your rather sketchy understanding of history. Do not forget the gruesome genocide perpetrated by Pakistan against its own people in 1971 and the role played by Lt. Gen A A K Niazi. A sordid fact that the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh reminded this Assembly about earlier this afternoon,” the diplomat added reminding Pakistan of its dark history.

The trend was then continued by Mijito Vinito, first Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, delivered another heated Right of Reply address.

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He had said that the “only crowning glory” that Pakistan has to show to the world for the last seven decades is terrorism, ethnic cleansing, majoritarian fundamentalism and clandestine nuclear trade.

“This august Forum witnessed today a new low on its 75th Anniversary. The leader of Pakistan today called for those who incite hate and violence to be outlawed. But, as he went on, we were left wondering, was he referring to himself?” Mr Vinito had said.