Right of Reply by India under the High-Level Segment of the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council (28 February – 01 April 2022), delivered by

Ms. Seema Pujani, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India

[Geneva, 03 March 2022]

Mr. President,

India is exercising its Right of Reply in response to the statement delivered by Pakistan in the High-Level Segment.

Ms. Mazari has yet again misused the platform offered by this august Council for her vitriolic diatribe against my country. Peddling false narratives against India and raking up bilateral issues in multilateral forums has become a bad habit for Pakistan.

Ms. Mazari’s statement is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Pakistan’s tendency to propagate false and malicious propaganda against my country is nothing but a bid to deflect attention from the sorry state of affairs within Pakistan, particularly when it comes to the mainstreaming of radicalism and the persecution of minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Ahmadiyyas. The world has been witness to the brutal murder of Pastor William Siraj in Peshawar in January 2022, award of ‘death sentence’ to Pastor Zafar Bhatti on allegations of ‘blasphemy’, and the countless cases of abduction, forced conversion and marriage of minor girls from minority communities in Pakistan.

Let me begin by reiterating that the entire territory of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is an integral and inalienable part of India. All the measures taken by my Government to ensure socio-economic development and good governance therein are matters internal to India.

Mr. President,

Some of the most draconian blasphemy laws in the world, that carry a potential death sentence for anyone who insults Islam, threaten the lives of minority communities in Pakistan. There are about 80 convicts currently on death row or serving life imprisonment terms in Pakistan for committing blasphemy. Judicial procedures in such cases are highly flawed, low standards of evidence are required for conviction and the accused are often presumed guilty. Increasingly, these cases are being settled with violence outside the courtroom.

Only last month Muhammad Mushtaq, a man with mental disabilities, was brutally killed by a mob. The lynching of an innocent Sri Lankan National, also over flimsy allegations of blasphemy, is another grim reminder of the state of freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of religion or belief in Pakistani society.

The institutionalized discrimination and persecution faced by Pakistan’s Christians, Shias, Hazaras, Ahmadiyyas, Sikhs and Hindus has continued unabated. Desecration of their places of worship as well as their targetted killing are well-documented. Women and minor girls from these communities remain especially vulnerable to violent attacks, kidnapping, forced conversions and forced marriages. The case of Roshni Meghwar of Sindh, only 13 years old, who was abducted, forcibly converted and married off to her abductor is an example of the impunity with which rights of religious minorities are trampled over in Pakistan. No measures seem to be taken to protect innocent victims from such criminal practices.

Mr. President,

Pakistan is also a country where enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture are used as tools of State Policy to crush dissent. The conviction of Mr. Idris Khattak, a human rights defender working for the rights of Pashtuns, by a military court without a fair detention and trial is a case in point. Declared guilty of treason after being forcibly disappeared two years ago by Pakistani authorities, he has now been served a 14-year prison sentence. Balochistan and other regions of Pakistan have suffered under such political repression and systemic oppression for decades.

Draconian cyber laws allow State authorities to censor free speech on social media platforms and criticism by the press. The killing of journalist Hasnain Shah outside the Lahore Press Club in broad daylight in January this year is one of many incidents of silencing journalists and is proof of the growing climate of fear in which reporters work in Pakistan.

Mr. President,

Terrorism is a crime against humanity and violates the most fundamental of human rights, the right to life. Pakistan holds the ignoble record of hosting the largest number of terrorists proscribed by the UN Security Council. The terrorists supported and trained by Pakistan are behind vicious terror attacks in India as well as linked to those taking place in other parts of the world. They are responsible for violating the right to life of people in our region and are a threat to peace and security everywhere.  Pakistan should be held accountable for extending patronage to terrorist outfits, engaging in cross-border terrorism and providing terrorists sustenance and support in the territories under its control.

Mr. President,

We regret the comments made by Turkey on a matter that is an internal affair of India and advise it to refrain from making unsolicited comments on our internal matters.

As regards the OIC’s statement, we reject the factually incorrect and unwarranted reference to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. We regret that the OIC countries continue to allow Pakistan to misuse OIC platforms to indulge in anti-India propaganda.

Mr. President,

The Government of India is deeply committed to the progressive realisation of human rights for all Indians and to ensuring that we leave no one behind.The full statement will be uploaded on HRC Extranet.

I thank you.