NEW DELHI: India on Thursday rebuked Pakistan over its remarks on Kashmir and minorities in India at the UN Human Rights Council, calling out Islamabad for its illegal occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir and demanding that it vacate them.Exercising India’s right to reply to the comments made by Pakistan at the council, Indian diplomat Kshitij Tyagi advised Islamabad to direct its energy towards a debt-ridden economy surviving on bailouts rather than harbouring territorial ambitions or sponsoring cross-border terrorism.“Since Pakistan appears to need the reminder under every agenda item, Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. The only part of Jammu and Kashmir under foreign occupation is the part Pakistan holds, which we again call upon it to vacate,” Tyagi said.“India is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the world and our minorities vote, legislate, sit on a highest court and lead our institutions. In Pakistan, Hindu, Sikh and Christian communities have shrunk drastically since independence. Their daughters are abducted, forcibly converted and married off. Blasphemy laws hang over every minority household. Its own Muslim minorities, Shias, Ahmadiyyas, Ismailis and Hazaras face systemic persecution and their places of worship are attacked and desecrated,” he added.Exposing this blatant double standard, Kshitij Tyagi said, “The Council does not need Pakistan to explain what happened in 1990 to the Kashmiri Pandits driven from their homes by terrorists Pakistan armed, trained and sent across the border.”“Those same terrorists have since killed Kashmiris of every faith, many of them Muslim. The State that sponsored them is now asking this Council for an inquiry. The irony will not be lost on this Council,” he added.Meanwhile, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal issued a stern rejection of a letter circulated by Pakistan to the UN Security Council concerning a Court of Arbitration pronouncement on the Indus Waters Treaty, castigating Islamabad for twisting international legal mechanisms.
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Exposing Pakistan’s systemic falsehoods, Randhir Jaiswal stated, “Regarding the ‘permanent court’ or so-called ‘Permanent Court of Arbitration’, I would like to say that Pakistan has a habit of misrepresenting facts and propagating falsehoods to serve its malicious propaganda.”Reiterating India’s principled and unyielding legal position, Randhir Jaiswal added, “For starters, the so-called ruling is not a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration as sought to be projected by the Pakistan minister. It is a ruling by an illegally-constituted court. We see this as just another attempt by Pakistan at distorting reality. Our position on this issue is very clear and we have reiterated it several times.“
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