'Truly abysmal human rights record...': India's befitting reply to Pakistan at United Nations

Geneva, February 29

In a befitting reply to Pakistan, India exercised its ‘Right of Reply’ in response to references to New Delhi, saying the nation that has institutionalised the systemic persecution of its minorities and has a truly abysmal human rights record has no right to comment on India.

Exercising the ‘Right of Reply’ at the High-Level Segment of the 55th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday, First Secretary Anupama Singh said that regarding Pakistan’s lengthy mentions of India, it is very regrettable that the Council’s forum has once again been abused to propagate flagrantly false accusations about India.

“With regard to the extensive references to India made by Pakistan, we note that it is deeply unfortunate for the Council’s platform to have once again been misused to make patently false allegations against India,” she said.

“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 Government of India to ensure socio-economic development and good governance in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are matters internal to India. Pakistan has no locus standi to pronounce on matters that are internal to India,” she added.

Terming Pakistan’s human rights record as “truly abysmal”, the First Secretary said, “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 demonstrably making great strides in achieving economic progress and social justice, is not merely ironical but perverse.”

“A glaring example was the large scale brutality perpetrated against the minority Christian community in Jaranwala city, Pakistan, in August 2023, when 19 churches were gutted and 89 Christian houses burnt down. A country that hosts and even celebrates UNSC-sanctioned terrorists, commenting on India whose pluralistic ethos and democratic credentials are exemplars for the world, is a contrast for everyone to see,” she went on to say.

Singh said the Pakistan government had failed to serve the actual interests of its citizens, and that Pakistan sponsors terrorism around the world.