Geneva:
India on Tuesday described Pakistan as an “epicenter of terrorism” and said no one deserves an unsolicited human rights conference from Islamabad, which has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.
Exercising the right to reply to statements made by Pakistan at the 45th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), the Indian representative said that it has become customary for Pakistan to smear India with false narratives fabricated for its malicious selfish purposes.
“Neither India nor others deserve this unsolicited conference on human rights from a country that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, is an epicenter of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pensions to people on the UN sanctions list. and it has a Prime Minister who takes pride in admitting to having trained tens of thousands of terrorists to fight in Jammu and Kashmir, ”said the Indian diplomat.
The diplomat said it is not surprising that other relevant multilateral institutions have expressed serious concerns about Pakistan’s failure to stop terrorist financing and the lack of effective action against all terrorist entities in Pakistan.
Highlighting Pakistan’s dire designs in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir, the diplomat said that “the massive influx of outsiders has reduced the number of Kashmiris to a negligible number in Pakistani-occupied parts of the Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Laddakh “.
“In its quest to reaffirm its theocratic ideology, it has ensured that ethnic and religious minorities have no future through systematic persecution, blasphemy laws, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination,” he said. the diplomat.
“Thousands of Sikh, Hindu and minority Christian women and girls have been victims of kidnappings, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan.”
On the plight of the people in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, the Indian diplomat said: “Not a single day has passed that a family in Baluchistan does not find their members detained or abducted by the Pakistani security forces.”
Pakistan does well when it comes to intimidation and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidents, particularly by its state machinery. It is not without reason that Pakistan has been singled out by international organizations as a country where journalists are murdered and their murderers go free, “said the diplomat.
India also criticized Pakistan for “abusing various mechanisms and platforms of the HRC to raise issues that are outside the mandate of the HRC and that relate to the internal affairs of India, with a view to diverting the attention of the international community away from the issues. serious violations of human rights, committed by him against his own people, including in the Indian territories occupied by him. “
India also rejected the reference made by the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India.
“The OIC has no locus standi to comment on the internal affairs of India. The OIC has allowed Pakistan to misuse it to subvert its own Agenda. OIC members must decide whether it is in their best interest to allow Pakistan to do so,” he said. the representative of India.
India also advised Turkey to refrain from commenting on its internal affairs and to develop a better understanding of democratic practices.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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