Brahamdagh Bugti thanks Sushma Swaraj for calling Pakistani war crimes in Balochistan "the height of atrocities"

Geneva: Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti on Monday welcomed India's move of slamming Pakistan over its atrocities in Balochistan.

Bugti, who recently sought asylum in India, thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for calling Pakistani war crimes in Balochistan "the height of atrocities" in her speech at United Nations General Assembly.

The Baloch leader's reaction came after Swaraj said those accusing others of rights violations must introspect as it censured Pakistan for the first time at the UNGA for perpetrating the "worst form of state oppression" in Balochistan.

Taking a veiled dig at Pakistan, the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in her address at the 71st UN General Assembly session said there are nations "in our midst" where UN designated terrorists roam freely and deliver "their poisonous sermons of hate with impunity", an apparent reference to Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.

Rebutting Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's contention last week at the UN that India had placed unacceptable conditions for talks, she listed a series of gestures, large and small, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had extended to Islamabad.

Sharif "said that India has placed pre-conditions for talks which are not acceptable to him," she said asking, "What pre-conditions?"

"We took the initiative to resolve issues not on the basis of conditions, but on the basis of friendship," she said. "We have in fact attempted a paradigm of friendship in the last two years which is without precedent."

She also made a strong pitch for isolating such nations who speak the language of terrorism and for whom sheltering terrorists has become "their calling card".

"In our midst, there are nations that still speak the language of terrorism, that nurture it, peddle it, and export it. To shelter terrorists has become their calling card. We must identify these nations and hold them to account," Swaraj asserted in her nearly 20-minute speech.

"These nations, in which UN designated terrorists roam freely, lead processions and deliver their poisonous sermons of hate with impunity, are as culpable as the very terrorists they harbour. Such countries should have no place in the comity of nations," Swaraj said, in essence making a call to the international community to isolate such nations.