Right of Reply by India under Agenda Item 9 at the 43rd Resumed Session of the Human Rights Council (15 – 19 June, 2020), delivered by Mr. S. Senthil Kumar, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India, (Geneva, 16 June 2020) Right of Reply by India under Agenda Item 9 at the 43rd Resumed Session of the Human Rights Counc..

Right of Reply by India under Agenda Item 9 at the

43rd Resumed Session of the Human Rights Council

(15 – 19 June, 2020), delivered by Mr. S. Senthil Kumar,

First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India, (Geneva, 16 June 2020)

Thank you Mr. Vice-President,

            India exercises its right of reply in response to the statement made by Pakistan under Agenda item 9. We reject all the untenable and unsolicited remarks made by Pakistan against India.

  1. India’s decision in Jammu and Kashmir is within our sovereign right and is an internal matter of India. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of India.

Mr. Vice-President,

  1. 3. A country that categorizes its minority communities into second or third tiers of citizenship is evoked with sudden sympathy for minorities in other countries. The pathetic situation of minorities in Pakistan is well known where the systematic misuse of blasphemy laws has condemned their lives utterly miserable.

Mr Vice-President,

  1. 4. Only, a country like Pakistan can set up a Minority Commission till recently, after more than 60 years of its existence, and no minorities can represent themselves in the so-called Minority Commission.

Mr Vice President,

  1. One can’t forget the death sentences being meted out regularly under Blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Professor Junaid, Asia Bibi, Prof. Shah Abdul Lateef, Prof. Sajid Soomro of Khairpur, a poor Christian couple in Lahore are in our recent memories. Pakistan has the distinction of having more cases under Blasphemy laws than the rest of the world combined together in the last decade.

Mr Vice-President,

  1. 6. Systematic socio-economic discrimination, onslaught against religious and ethnic minorities with the full state support are manifested in organized attacks on Churches in Punjab, denial of last rites for Hindu community in Sindh, religious apartheid against Ahmadis, burning of houses belonging to Hindu Bheel community in Sindh, abduction of minor Hindu girls for sexual exploitation in Sindh, abduction of a Christian girl in Lahore, destruction of homes of Christian community in Jadanwala and demolition of 25 houses belonging to Hindus in Lahore.

Mr. Vice-President,

  1. One can only advise this country to stop looking others but rather rectify its ongoing structural discrimination and policies against its minorities.

Thank you, Mr. Vice-President.

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