In an embarrassing gaffe on Sunday, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, attempted to pass off the photo of a Palestinian victim as 'evidence of atrocities' on Kashmiris.
When a Gaza War Photo Was Labelled as the Face of ‘India’s Democracy’
Exercising her right to reply hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj slammed Pakistan for its support to terrorism, Lodhi, on the floor of the UN General Assembly, held up a photograph of a woman whose face was riddled with alleged pellet gun wounds.
“This is the face of Indian democracy,” Lodhi remarked.
Also Read: Pakistan Calls Sushma Swaraj’s UN Speech A “Litany of Lies”
However, the photo is in fact that of 17-year-old Rawya abu Joma’a of Gaza, who was injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza strip in 2014.
The photograph was shot in July 2014 by award-winning American photographer Heidi Levine, who is based in Jerusalem.
The picture is available on multiple news websites.
This was in response to Sushma Swaraj's speech at the UNGA, where she had said that India has risen despite being the principal destination of Pakistan's nefarious export of terrorism.
Watch Lodhi’s speech below:
Lodhi Also Quotes Arundhati Roy, But Omits a Few Words
Moreover, Lodhi, also quoted author Arundhati Roy to slam India's "fascist government" in her speech, but ended up omitting a few words from what Roy had said in an article in The Indian Express in 2015, reported The Wire.
This is what Lodhi said during her speech
As one of India’s most famous contemporary authors recently said and I quote ‘These horrific murders are only a symptom. Life is hell for the living too. Whole populations of Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims and Christians are being forced to live in terror, unsure of when and from where the next assault would come’Maleeha Lodhi
And this is what Roy had written in the Indian Express article:
... Third, these horrific murders are only a symptom of a deeper malaise. Life is hell for the living too. Whole populations — millions of Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims and Christians — are being forced to live in terror, unsure of when and from where the assault will come.Arundhati Roy in The Indian Express
Reacting to her being invoked by Lodhi, the author told Outlook:
All governments and their spokespersons are opportunistic. That cannot become a reason for writers and journalists not to write what they have to writeArundhati Roy
Social Media Abuzz With Lodhi’s Gaffe
A speech like Lodhi’s naturally piqued the interest of netizens, and soon enough Twitter was buzzing with reactions to Lodhi’s embarrassing gaffe:
Meanwhile Lodhi, an active social media user, retweeted the following tweet:
Regarding the controversy, Danyal Gilani, the Director of Information and Broadcasting Ministry of Pakistan, said:
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