India calls out Pakistan at UN on terrorism
India on September 11 had a scathing reply to Pakistan’s jibe on Kashmir and the alleged violations at the 39th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
India’s First Secretary at the Permanent Mission in Geneva Mini Devi Kumam exercised the Right of Reply’ to respond to a statement made by the Pakistani envoy Farukh Amil on the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Rejecting Pakistan’s claims, she said that their efforts were “futile” and references to reports fallacious and motivated.
Highlighting the fact that J&K is an inalienable part of India and the real problem is terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Kumam said, The main challenge in Jammu and Kashmir is cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. In 2017 alone, unrelenting cross-border terrorism from Pakistan was responsible for 342 terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir resulting in the death of 120 civilian and security personnel.
Citing the OHCHR report of Kashmir, the envoy had said that Kashmiris should be given a life of dignity to which the Indian diplomat responded by exposing the state of the minorities in Pakistan.
No amount of hyperbole can hide the dismal human rights record of Pakistan, which has been systematically violating the rights and freedoms of people of POK including exploitation of their natural resources. Extrajudicial killings and disappearances in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continue to be the order of the day. Minorities are harassed through blasphemy laws. Forced conversions and marriages of minority women are routinely carried out with impunity. Even Muslim minorities such as Shias, Ahmadiyas, Ismailia and Hazaras are victims of sectarian violence and systemic persecution.
Recently a renowned economist Professor Atif Mian was forced to quit Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan’s Economic Advisory Council because he belonged to the Ahmadi sect, one which is not even recognised as part of the Muslim community of Pakistan.
On the issue of terrorism she said, Is it not an irony that a State, which protected Osama Bin Laden and sheltered Mullah Omar is raising human rights concerns? Even as we approach 10 years of Mumbai terrorist attacks, their perpetrators continue to roam freely in Pakistan.The fact that UN proscribed terrorist entities and individuals actively campaigned and contested in the recently held elections reflects the deplorable state of affairs in Pakistan. Terrorism originating from Pakistan remains the biggest threat to regional and global peace and security.