India counters Pakistan's photo gaffe at UN with picture of slain Kashmiri Army officer

Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN had on Sunday flashed a picture of an injured Gaza girl alleging she was a victim of pellet guns in Kashmir.

New York: Exposing Pakistan's false propaganda at the United Nations, India on Monday slammed the neighbouring country for its nefarious designs in Jammu and Kashmir.

Exercising the right to reply, India's representative Paulomi Tripathi said, "Permanent representative of Pakistan (Maleeha Lodhi) in her statement sought to divert attention from their role as the hub of global terrorism. She did so by callously holding up a picture if an injured girl. It was the photo of Rawya abu Joma from Palestine."

"Pakistan mislead Assembly by displaying the picture to spread falsehoods about India, fake picture to push a false narrative. We are constrained to show a photo that reflects real picture of pain inflicted by nefarious designs of Pakistan on India," she added.

Showing the photo of the young Kashmiri Army officer who was killed by militants, Tripathi said, "We are constrained to show a photo that reflects real picture of pain inflicted by nefarious designs of Pakistan on India. This is a real picture, of Lt Ummer Fayaz, a young officer from J&K. He was brutally tortured and killed by Pakistan-supported terrorists."

"This is the reality that the permanent representative of Pakistan sought to obfuscate," she pointed out.

Meanwhile, Syed Akbaruddin, India's ambassador/permanent representative to the UN tweeted, "Pakistan uses fake pictures to push false narrative, India uses true pictures of Pakistani terror's true face."

A tale of 2 narratives @UN

Pakistan uses fake picture to push a false narrative
India uses true pictures of Pakistani terror's true face pic.twitter.com/UMZ8N8Ujta — Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) September 25, 2017

A tale of 2 narratives @UN

Pakistan uses fake pictures to push false narrative
India uses true pictures of Pakistani terror's true face. pic.twitter.com/2iKbmkMNtt

— Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) September 25, 2017

In a major goof-up, Lodhi on Sunday had flashed a picture of an injured Gaza girl with no connection to India while alleging that she was a victim of pellet guns in Kashmir.

Exercising her right to reply, hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj blasted Pakistan for its support to terrorism, the Pakistani envoy, on the floor of the UN General Assembly, had held up a photograph of a woman whose face was peppered with alleged pellet gun wounds.

"This is the face of Indian democracy," Lodhi had claimed.

The picture of 17-year-old Rawya of Gaza, an alleged victim of an Israeli attack, was actually taken by award-winning American photo-journalist Heidi Levine in July, 2014.

The picture is available on multiple news websites.

(With Agency inputs)