India registered a massive victory at the United Nations as its diplomat, Vidisha Maitra was elected to the all-important UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). Maitra grabbed the headlines and earned admirers of her spirited taking down of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi after the latter’s rant at the UNGA in 2019.
In yet another display of India’s rising soft power, India’s Vidisha Maitra was elected to a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly.
The ACABQ, which consists of 16 members appointed by the Assembly in their individual capacity, saw Maitra securing a resounding victory in the Group of Asia-Pacific States by obtaining 126 votes in the 193-member General Assembly.
The members of the ACABQ which are appointed by the member states of the General Assembly are selected on the basis of broad geographical representation, personal qualifications and experience.
Maitra, who is the First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, defeated Ali Mohammed Faeq Al-Dabag of Iraq in the Asia-Pacific state’s group who drew 64 votes.
The committee holds significance as it deals with administrative and budgetary issues and ensures that the fund contributions to the United Nations are put to their intended use and also ensure that the mandates are properly funded. Maitra’s three-year term will start from January 1, 2021.
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti while thanking all the member states who supported India in this “crucial election and reposed faith in our candidate”, stated that Maitra “will bring an independent, objective and much-needed gender-balanced perspective to the functioning of ACABQ”.
India’s election to the 16-member ACABQ has come at a time when the country is preparing for a seat at the UN Security Council for its two-year term as a non-permanent member.
Maitra earned admirers across the globe when she brutally busted Imran Khan’s incessant anti-India rants. In 2019, when India had exercised its right to reply after the vacuous speech of Pakistani PM at the UNGA, Vidisha Maitra, First Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, had called him ‘Imran Khan Niazi’, ultimately exposing his links with the Niazi sect.
She had said, “Pogroms, Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi, are not a phenomenon of today’s vibrant democracies. 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.”
Niazi is a hated surname in Pakistan as it reminds the rouge country of its humiliating defeat in the 1971 war at the hands of Indian forces. Lieutenant General Ameer Abdullah Khan Niazi, who was the then commanding officer of the Pakistan Army, had surrendered his 38 calibre revolver to the then Eastern Army commander Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora on December 16, 1971.
India took AAK Niazi as a prisoner of war and repatriated him to Pakistan in 1975. Upon return, Niazi was demoted to Major-General. He was eventually dismissed from service in July 1975. Prime Minister Imran Khan hails from the same Pashtun tribe as Niazi, however, he rarely uses his full name.
Maitra who is a career diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service and in the past 11 years, has served in various capacities in New Delhi, Paris, Port Louis, and New York will prove to be a fantastic addition in the committee and ensure that India’s voice is heard loud and clear across the globe.
