India rejects UN report on rights in J&K as fallacious
new delhi — India on Thursday rejected a UN report alleging human rights violations in Kashmir as “fallacious, tendentious and motivated”.
In a strong reaction, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the report is “overtly prejudiced” and seeks to build a “false narrative”.
In the report released on Thursday, the UN talked about alleged human rights violations in both “Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir” and sought an international inquiry into these abuses.
“India rejects the report. It is fallacious, tendentious and motivated. We question the intent in bringing out such a report,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to a question.
He added that the report is a selective compilation of largely unverified information.
Stating that the report violates India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, in his response, said that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. “The report violates India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.” he said.
“The incorrect description of Indian territory in the report is mischievous, misleading and unacceptable. There are no entities such as ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ and ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’,” Kumar said.
The report violates India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.
Raveesh Kumar, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson
Stating that terrorism is the most egregious violation of human rights, the spokesperson said that yet the authors have conveniently ignored the pattern of cross-border terrorism. “Cross-border terror and incitement is aimed at suppressing the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, disrupting its political and social fabric and undermining India’s integrity,” he stated.
“It is disturbing that those behind this report have chosen to describe internationally designated and UN-proscribed terrorist entities as ‘armed groups’ and terrorists as ‘leaders’. This undermines the UN-led consensus on zero tolerance to terrorism.” Kumar also said that the motivated report deliberately ignores that fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution to every Indian citizen, including in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, are protected also by an independent judiciary, human rights commissions, free and vibrant media and an active civil society.
He said India’s protest and views in the matter have been conveyed unequivocally to the OHCHR.
“We are deeply concerned that individual prejudices are being allowed to undermine the credibility of a UN institution,” he said.
“Such malicious reports cannot undermine the will of the people and the government of India to take all measures necessary to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country from cross-border terrorism,” he added. —