UN report on alleged rights violations in J&K ‘motivated’

NEW DELHI: Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat on Wednesday dismissed the recent UN report on alleged human rights violations in Kashmir as “motivated” and asserted that Indian Army’s record in this regard is “absolutely above board”.

“I don’t need to speak about the human rights record of the Indian Army. It is well known to all of you, it is well known to the people of Kashmir, and to the international community,” Gen Rawat told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on cyber security here.

“The human rights record of the Indian Army is absolutely above board,” he said.

In a report released earlier this month, the United Nations Human Rights Council talked about alleged human rights violations in both Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and sought an international inquiry into these cases.

“I don’t think we should get too concerned about the report. Some of these reports are motivated,” Gen. Rawat said on Wednesday.

Earlier, the MEA had also discarded the report saying, “India rejects the report. It is fallacious, tendentious and motivated. We question the intent in bringing out such a report.”

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had also said the report was “overtly prejudiced” and that it sought to build a “false narrative”.

Meanwhile, at the cybersecurity event on Wednesday, the Army chief stressed on exploiting cyberspace for the advantages of defence forces. “We must also develop niche capabilities to disable the adversaries’ system.”

Noting that almost all the systems, be it weapons, equipment, ammunition that are used in the armed forces employ some technology which takes advantage of the cyberspace, Rawat said this also makes them vulnerable to the attacks from adversaries.

The cyberspace, he stressed, is not only crucial in conventional warfare, but it is also equally relevant in the sub-conventional warfare or proxy war.

“Today, the terrorists operating against us from across the borders are very tech-savvy. They are exploiting cyberspace to their advantage. If we don’t stay ahead of them, we will never be able to get over the phenomena of terrorism,” Rawat said.

He also cited the example of how China is ramping up its capabilities in the cyber warfare.