New Delhi: Criticizing Pakistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for raising the Kashmir issue in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), India on Wednesday said the group has “helplessly allowed itself to be held hostage” by Islamabad.
First Secretary of India’s Permanent Mission in Geneva, Pawan Bade, said New Delhi does not need to draw lessons from a “failed state” like Pakistan.
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“India is not only the largest democracy in the world, but a strong functional and vibrant democracy, which does not need to take lessons from a failed country like Pakistan, which is the epicenter of terrorism and the biggest human rights abuses,” he said.
Badhe said it has become a habit of Pakistan, which is “the epicenter of terrorism and the biggest human rights abuses”, to misuse the platforms provided by the council to propagate its false and malicious propaganda against India. .
“The Council is aware of Pakistan’s efforts to divert the attention of the Council from the serious human rights violations committed by its government, including in the territories it occupies,” Badhe told the 48th session of the Human Rights Council.
Stating that Pakistan has failed to protect the rights of its minorities including Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and Ahmadiyyas, the Indian envoy said, “Thousands of women and girls from minority communities are abducted, forced into marriages in Pakistan and its occupied territories. and has been subjected to conversion.”
“Pakistan continues to engage in systematic persecution, forced conversions, targeted killings, communal violence and faith-based discrimination against its ethnic and religious minorities,” he said.
The Indian diplomat said incidents of violence against minority communities, including attacks on their places of worship, their cultural heritage as well as their personal property, have taken place in Pakistan without any punishment.
Badhe said that Pakistan is a country that is “globally recognized as a country that is openly supporting, training, financing and providing arms to terrorists, including UN-prohibited terrorists.”
“The relevant multilateral institutions are expressing serious concern over their failure to prevent terror financing and the lack of effective action against terrorist entities,” he said.
Stating that voices of dissent are daily suppressed with support for the government in Pakistan, the Indian diplomat added: “Forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, murders and kidnappings were used as a tool for subjugation and has been used to suppress dissent or criticism of any kind.”
“The manner in which such abuses have been committed exposes the hollowness of Pakistan’s commitment to human rights,” he said.
Criticizing the OIC for raising the Kashmir issue in the council, Badhe said the group has no right to comment on the country’s internal affairs.
“We once again regret and reject the reference made by the OIC to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral part of India,” he said.
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Badhe further said, “The OIC has allowed itself to be held hostage by Pakistan, which presides over its Geneva chapter, to fulfill its own agenda”.
“It is for the members of the OIC to decide whether it is in their best interest to allow Pakistan to do so,” he said.
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