Pakistan, an epicentre of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pension to individuals on the UN Sanctions list

No country deserves unsolicited lecture on human rights from a country like Pakistan, India told the international community during the 45th session of Human Rights Council (HRC) and termed Pakistan as ‘epicentre of terrorism.’

Exercising its Right to Reply to statements made by Pakistan during the session, the Indian representative at Geneva said Pakistan has always tried to malign India’s image.

The Indian representative said Pakistan does not deserve to give a lecture on human rights when it itself mistreats its ethnic and religious minorities including Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.

“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,” the Indian diplomat said.

According to a report published by NDTV, India also highlighted Pakistan’s harmful operations in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). The Indian diplomat said, “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.
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India said that many other relevant nations have also called out Pakistan’s failure to stop terrorism and its non-secular activities in its own territories. The Indian diplomat said that Pakistan has always indulged in activities like blasphemy and religious persecution.

“In its zeal to reassert its theocratic ideology, it has ensured that ethnic and religious minorities have no future through systematic persecution, blasphemy laws, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination,” the diplomat said.

The diplomat further said, “Thousands of Sikh, Hindus and Christian minority women and girls have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan.”

India also highlighted the plight of people 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,” the Indian diplomat said.

India also called out multiple attacks on journalists in Pakistan saying that the country knows how to intimidate and attack journalists and human rights activists.

“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,” the diplomat said.

The diplomat said that Pakistan is a country which abuses various HRC mechanisms and platforms for raising issues to target India and distract the attention of the international community from issues burning in its own land.

The report said that India also rejected the reference made by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India. India also advised Turkey to refrain from commenting on its internal affairs and develop a better understanding of the democratic practices, the report said.