India hits out at Pakistan for raking up Kashmir issue at UNHRC

PTI, Feb 29, 2024, 2:03 PM IST

In a strong retort to debt-trapped Pakistan after it raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at the UN Human Rights Council, India has said it cannot pay any attention to a country which is soaked in red due to the bloodshed from terrorism that it sponsors around the world.

First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in Geneva Anupama Singh exercised India’s Right of Reply at the ongoing high-level segment of the 55th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday.

India exercised the Right of Reply to respond to Turkiye and Pakistan after the two countries made references to Kashmir in their statements at the high-level segment.

“Firstly, we regret the comment made by Turkiye on a matter that is an internal affair of India and hope that it would refrain from making unsolicited comments on our internal matters in the future,” Singh said.

Coming down heavily on Pakistan, India said that “we cannot pay any further attention to a country that speaks while being soaked in red – the red of the bloodshed from the terrorism it sponsors around the world; the red of its debt-riddled national balance sheets; and the red of the shame its own people feel for their government having failed to serve their actual interests.” A country that hosts and even celebrates UN Security Council-sanctioned terrorists, “commenting on India whose pluralistic ethos and democratic credentials are exemplars for the world, is a contrast for everyone to see,” she said, in an apparent reference to terror outfit leaders like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar enjoying the backing of the government in Pakistan.

Hitting out at Pakistan for the “extensive references” to India, Singh said it is deeply unfortunate for the Council’s platform to have once again been misused to make patently false allegations against India.

“We are constrained to respond,” Singh said.

Singh asserted that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India and the constitutional measures taken by the Indian government to ensure socio-economic development and good governance in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are matters of internal to India.

She said Pakistan has no locus standi to pronounce on matters that are internal to India.

Singh said that Pakistan is 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 demonstratively making great strides in achieving economic progress and social justice, is not merely ironical, but perverse.” She cited the ”glaring example” of large-scale brutality perpetrated against the minority Christian communities in Jaranwala city in Pakistan in August 2023, when 19 churches were gutted, and 89 Christian houses burnt down.