Advertisment

Pak Diplomat Shows Gaza Girl's Photo As Kashmir Victim

author-image
Tara Khandelwal
New Update

Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, made a huge faux pas. She tried to pass off a Gaza girl's photo as that of a Kashmiri. The Pak diplomat was responding to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s attack on Pakistan at the United National General Assembly.

Advertisment

Swaraj had called Pakistan a “pre-eminent export factory for terror”.

Lodhi responded by saying Swaraj was “indulging in an orgy of slander against Pakistan”.

She said India had carried out crimes against humanity. It is carrying out a campaign of brutality inside Kashmir, Lodhi added. She showed a picture of a badly injured girl, who she said was from there.

Lodhi even posted the photo on Twitter, as did the Pakistan Mission to the UN. But it was soon found that the photo was taken by award-winning photographer Heidi Levine inside the Gaza Strip in 2014

The girl, Rawya abu Jom, was injured in an air strike on her apartment in Gaza. Her sister and three cousins were killed. 

Lambasting Pakistan, Swaraj had said India has risen despite Pakistan. She asked what Pakistan offers to the world. She also said India is engaged in fighting poverty, while Islamabad is engaged in fighting New Delhi.

Advertisment

Calls India Mother Of Terrorism

Lodhi had described India as the "mother of terrorism" in South Asia. She quoted author Arundhati Roy, while making her point.

"Much of what is in the air in India now is pure terror, in Kashmir, in other places," Lodhi said, quoting Roy.

"A racist and fascist ideology is firmly embedded in Modi's government and its leadership is drawn from the RSS which is accused of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi," she had said at the United Nations General Assembly.

Also Read: The Question is Not Whether We Do Social Media; it is How Well We Do 

Picture Credit: Hindustan Times

sushma swaraj UN faux pas Pakistan diplomat
Advertisment