Right of Reply by India at the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council (28 February – 01 April 2022) in response to the Statement made by Pakistan in the General Debate under Agenda Item 4, delivered by Ms. Seema Pujani, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India [Geneva, 22nd March 2022] Right of Reply by India at the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council (28 February – 01 April 20..

Right of Reply by India at the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council (28 February – 01 April 2022) in response to the Statement made by Pakistan in the General Debate under Agenda Item 4, delivered by Ms. Seema Pujani, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India [Geneva, 22nd March 2022]

Right of Reply by India at the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council (28 February – 01 April 2022) in response to the Statement made by Pakistan in the General Debate under Agenda Item 4, delivered by Ms. Seema Pujani, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India
[Geneva, 22nd March 2022]

 

Madam Vice-President,

     India is exercising its right of reply in response to the statement made by Pakistan, which in itself, doesn’t deserve a response. However, we are dismayed at Pakistan’s persistent misuse of this Council for engaging in malicious and ad nauseam propaganda against India.

  1. 2.The matters that indeed need urgent attention of the Council are Pakistan's illegal occupation of parts of the Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and the continued suffering of the people in Pakistan Occupied territories who are victims of sectarian conflict, systemic persecution by the army, violence, terrorism, extreme economic hardships, discriminatory policies and denial of even basic human rights.

  2. 3.The Council also urgently needs to look at the deplorable state of Christian, Hindu and Sikh minority communities in Pakistan, who are tortured, maimed and systemically persecuted on a daily basis and deprived of all their basic rights. Pakistan has failed miserably in protecting the rights of religious minorities residing in its territory whose number has, therefore, been declining consistently.

  3. 4.The Council needs to also focus on the persistent and blatant violations of fundamental freedoms and basic human rights of millions of people in Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where mass enforced disappearances, state-sponsored persecution and attacks, including on minorities such as Shias and Ahmadiyyas, are rampant.

  4. 5.The Council needs to denounce the continued support that Pakistan has been providing to UN proscribed terrorist organizations as a matter of State policy. Pakistan’s leaders, including its Prime Minister, have publicly admitted to their support to terrorist groups and to Pakistan’s complicity in sponsoring cross border terrorism in India, including in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Madam Vice-President,

  1. 6.It is tragic, though not surprising, that the failed State of Pakistan, instead of paying attention to the dire security and economic situation within Pakistan, wastes the Council’s time on spewing lies, mistruths and falsehoods about India.

I thank you. 

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