India responded on Tuesday to criticism from the UN human rights chief about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir saying it had revived grassroots democracy and boosted economic development in the region despite Pakistan’s efforts to derail this process.
In her global update on human rights on Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, had said that both “incidents of military and police violence against civilians” and incidents related to militancy continued in Kashmir, while the legal changes in the Constitution and the rules of domicile were “generating deep anxiety”.
Delivering India’s response during the Bachelet update debate on Tuesday, India’s Permanent Representative Indra Mani Pandey said that since changes were made to the territory of the Jammu and Kashmir union in August last year, people in the region have been “enjoying the same fundamental rights as people in other parts of India.”
“We have been able to revive grassroots democracy and provide a new impetus to social and economic development, despite the challenge posed by [the] The Covid-19 pandemic and persistent attempts by a country to infiltrate terrorists to derail this process by all possible means, ”said Pandey.
Although the envoy did not name the country, it was obvious that he was referring to Pakistan, whom India has blamed for supporting cross-border terrorism, especially in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pandey also said that the government’s efforts aimed at socio-economic development and ensuring better governance in Kashmir over the past year have “yielded unprecedented results.”
It added: “By expanding the coverage of positive and affirmative federal legislation and repealing discriminatory or outdated local laws, the government has reaffirmed its commitment to providing socio-economic justice to disadvantaged people in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, including women. , children, minorities and refugees “.
Bachelet had also said in her update that “the space for political debate and public participation remains severely restricted” in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly since new media rules prohibited information loosely defined as “anti-national.”
He welcomed the release of some political and community leaders, but noted that “hundreds of people remain arbitrarily detained, with many pending habeas corpus petitions, including those of many of Jammu and Kashmir’s political leaders.”
He also welcomed initiatives to extend services to remote areas and the conditional restoration of full Internet connectivity in two districts, saying that these measures “should be quickly applied to the rest of Jammu and Kashmir.”
Bachelet noted that people in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir have “limited access to the Internet, which creates difficulties in accessing education and other vital services.” She said she was also concerned about restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and association on the Pakistani side.
“My office is committed to continuing its commitment to India and Pakistan, to defend the rights of the Kashmiri people, which is the best way to prevent further tension and conflict,” he said.
Bachelet had also criticized the situation in Kashmir in her global update in 2019, when she had also spoken out against the verification process of the National Register of Citizens in Assam, saying it had caused “great uncertainty and anxiety.”
Pandey also said in his speech that India remains committed to the defense of all human rights and believes that the human rights agenda and discourse “should be pursued in a transparent and impartial manner with respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity and the non-interference in internal affairs of the states ”.
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