India hits out at Pakistan, OIC at UNHRC for demanding probe into alleged human rights violations in J&K

Pak said that failure to hold India accountable for human rights abuses in J&K would erode UNHRC's credibility

War of words continued between India and Pakistan at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Tuesday, even as the armed forces of the neigbouring nations agreed to stop firing across the Line of Control (LoC) last month.

India strongly protested statements made by Pakistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) seeking a probe into alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

India also accused Pakistan of providing pension to dreaded terrorists out of its state funds although they were all designated by the United Nations as the ones having links to Al Qaeda, Taliban and the Islamic State.

“The members of this council are well aware that Pakistan has provided pensions to dreaded and listed terrorists out of State funds and has the dubious distinction of hosting the largest number of terrorists proscribed by the United Nations,” Pawan Badhe, First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of India at the UN in Geneva, told the UNHRC.

He was making a statement at the 46th session of the council exercising India’s right to reply after Pakistan demanded a probe by the United Nations into alleged violations of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

Read: India tells Pakistan to stop state-sponsored cross-border terrorism

Khalil Hashmi, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, recently called upon the Human Rights Council to step up efforts for access to independent observers into Jammu and Kashmir to conduct an investigation into reports of multiple cases of abuse of human rights by India. He said that the failure to hold the Government of India accountable for human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir would erode the credibility of the UNHRC, its members, and the global human rights agenda.

Pakistan’s envoy to the UN alleged that India continued to use “torture and brute force, including pellet guns, and inflict collective punishments through house demolitions as well as cordon-and-search operations" in Jammu and Kashmir.

Making a statement on behalf of the Government of India, Badhe said, “Pakistani leaders have admitted the fact that it has become a factory for producing terrorists. Pakistan has ignored that terrorism is the worst form of human rights abuse and the supporters of terrorism are the worst abusers of human rights.”

India alleged that enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and, arbitrary detentions of those who try to speak against the establishment were rampant in Pakistan and had been carried out by the security agencies of the country with impunity.

Read: 'Pawri' power: 5-second social media clip pulls India, Pakistan closer

“Recently, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the key suspect in murder of journalists Daniel Pearl, was allowed to go scot-free. Disappearances and killings of Baloch human rights defenders show that human rights defenders are not safe, even after they leave Pakistan. Idris Khattak, a human rights defender who was picked up in November 2019, continues to be in secret detention,” said Badhe.

India’s representative noted the dire economic situation of Pakistan and told the UNHRC that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government would be well advised to stop wasting the time of the council and its mechanisms, stop state-sponsored cross-border terrorism and end institutionalized violation of human rights of its minority and other communities.

India also rejected the reference to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the statement of the OIC.

“It has no locus standi to comment on matters related to Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral and inalienable part of India. It is regrettable that OIC continues to allow itself to be exploited by Pakistan to indulge in anti-India propaganda,” said New Delhi’s representative to the UNHRC.