Geneva: India launched a scathing reply after Pakistan once again raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at the UN Human Rights Council, saying that it should first introspect on its horrendous human rights record and that it deserved a global reputation as the "world's terrorism factory'. The remarks were made by the Under Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva Jagpreet Kaur on Monday.
Exercising India's Right to Reply at the General Debate at the 55th Regular Session of the UNHRC, Kaur said, "We have taken the floor previously during this Session and conveyed our disinclination to waste the Council’s time in responding to fallacious comments about India, by one particular delegation, which does so as they do not have anything constructive to contribute".
This came after Pakistan raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir while speaking on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Without naming Pakistan, Kaur said it is unfortunate that “this country continues with its diatribe against India, including by continuing to misuse the OIC’s platform to further their own politically motivated agenda".
"We do not wish to dignify such remarks by responding to them and are taking the floor again only to urge that delegation to introspect on their own appalling human rights record and they deserved global reputation as the world’s terrorism factory," she added.
'Country soaked in red from terrorism': India to Pakistan
Last week, India came down heavily on Pakistan on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, saying it was soaked in the red of the bloodshed from the terrorism that it sponsors around the world. First Secretary Anupama Singh said that regarding Pakistan's lengthy mentions of India, it is very regrettable that the Council's forum has once again been abused to propagate flagrantly false accusations about India.
"A country that has institutionalised the systemic persecution of its own minorities and has a truly abysmal human rights record, commenting on India, which is demonstrably making great strides in achieving economic progress and social justice, is not merely ironical but perverse," Singh added.
She also commented that a country that hosts and celebrates UN-sanctioned terrorists while commenting on India "whose pluralistic ethos and democratic credentials are exemplars for the world, is a contrast for everyone to see". The Secretary also recalled the brutality perpetuated against the Christians in August last year when Christian houses and churches were burned down by an angry mob.
"The entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is an integral and inalienable part of India, and the constitutional measures taken by the Government of India to ensure socio-economic development and good governance in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are matters internal to India. Pakistan has no locus standi to pronounce on matters that are internal to India," she added.
(with inputs from PTI)
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