India pulls up Pakistan, Turkey & OIC at UNHRC meet for comments on internal matters

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday slammed Pakistan, Turkey and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council for their remarks on India's internal affairs.

Responding to the reference made by Turkey on Jammu and Kashmir, India in its right to reply has advised Turkey to refrain from commenting on the internal affairs of India and develop a better understanding of democratic practices.

First secretary, Permanent mission of India in Geneva Pawan Badhe who delivered India's right to reply said: "We reject the reference made by the OIC to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral part of India.

The OIC has no locus standi to comment on internal affairs of India. The OIC has allowed itself to be misused by Pakistan to subverse its own Agenda. It's for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interests to allow Pakistan to do so."

Referring to Pakistan's antics at the Human Rights council and the Badhe in India's right to reply said, "It has become habitual for Pakistan to malign my country with false and fabricated narratives for its self-serving malicious purposes."

"Neither India nor others deserve this unsolicited lecture on human rights from a country that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, is an epicentre of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pensions to individuals on UN Sanctions list and has a Prime Minister who proudly admits training tens of thousands of terrorists to fight in Jammu and Kashmir.

"It is not surprising that other relevant multilateral institutions have been raising serious concerns on its failure to stop terror financing and lack of effective actions against all terror entities in Pakistan," Badhe said.

India also raised issues of state-supported persecution in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In its reply India also highlighted the attacks on liberal voices and journalists in Pakistan.

Badhe said, "The nefarious designs of Pakistan continue in Pakistan Occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The mass influx of outsiders has whittled down the number of Kashmiris to an insignificant number in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

"Thousands of Sikh, Hindus and Christian minority women and girls have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan. The plight of people under its subjugation is well represented by the state of affairs in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. Not a single day has gone by when a family in Balochistan doesn't find its members picked up or kidnapped by the security forces of Pakistan," he said.

"Pakistan does well when it comes to intimidation and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidents in particular by its state machinery. It is not without a reason that Pakistan has been highlighted by international organizations as a country where journalists are slain and their killers go scot free," Badhe added.