India blasts Pak, Turkey for criticism on Kashmir
Slams Islamabad for oppression of minorities at UNHRC
After Pakistan attacked India on the Kashmir issue at the UN Human Rights Council along with its close friend Turkey, India hit back, accusing Pakistan of “political repression” in Balochistan and also raising the plight of Pasthuns and Sindhis”.
New Delhi also flagged Islamabad’s poor human rights record, especially in its own treatment of minorities. But in a worsening of ties, India lambasted Turkey and called it “a country which has trampled upon its own civil society”.
New Delhi blasted the two nations while exercising its “Right of Reply under the High-Level Segment of the 46th Session of the Human Rights Council”.
After criticism by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), India also lamented that the OIC had repeatedly allowed itself to be used as a platform of Pakistani propaganda against India.
India said, “It’s well known that Pakistan has been crushing dissent and engaging in political repression in Balochistan, and other regions, for decades. Enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture have been used as tools of coercion. Several Baloch human rights defenders have even met tragic death under mysterious circumstances, while in exile. Pashtuns and Sindhis have continued to struggle against systemic oppression and discrimination.”
India also said, “We are not surprised that Pakistan’s representative has chosen to misuse this august forum yet again. Pakistan’s continued misuse of various platforms to engage in baseless and malicious propaganda against India is not new. We reiterate that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India. The steps taken by the government to ensure good governance and development in these UTs are our internal matters.”
New Delhi further said, “As a country with one of the world’s worst human rights records, Pakistan would do well to put its own house in order, before venturing to point a finger at India. The violence, institutionalised discrimination and persecution faced by Pakistan’s minorities, including Christians, Sikhs and Hindus, has continued unabated. There have been frequent attacks on the places of worship of minority communities, a grave violation of their right to freedom of religion and belief.”
New Delhi pointed out that the condition of women belonging to minority communities, notably Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, remains deplorable. An estimated 1,000 women from minority communities are subjected to abduction followed by forced conversion and forced marriage in Pakistan every year, according to a recent report published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
Most of these women fall in the age bracket of 16-25 years. The fact that young women, and not men or older women, are the main victims of forced conversions is a telling fact about Pakistani society.
ABOUT 1,000 women from minorities are ‘subjected to abduction followed by forced conversion and forced marriage in Pakistan every year’, according to a recent report