Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi asked the international community on Thursday to act immediately to stop, what he alleged as Indian state-sponsored terrorism and religious discrimination in the South Asia region.

In his virtual address to the United Nations, he highlighted the "hateful rhetoric and incitement to violence" against “vulnerable ethnic and religious groups” practiced in Pakistan’s neighborhood- a veiled reference to India.

“These practices had resulted in discriminatory citizenship laws, attacks on places of worship and repeated state-sponsored pogroms against minorities,” he was quoted as saying by Dawn.

Without naming India, he also raised the Kashmir issue. In his address, he drew the attention of the internal community toward rising Islamophobia in Indiaz.

Qureshi said that the pandemic had “disproportionately impacted minorities”, making them more vulnerable to extreme poverty and unemployment, as well as higher rates of infection.

He asked the world community to end the structural drivers of discrimination, including those rooted in the history and legacy of colonialism.

The Covid-19 crisis had revealed existing inequalities in unequal access to food, education, health, housing, as well as access to justice, said Pakistan Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Akram in the same meeting.