Right of Reply by India under Agenda Item 2 - Interactive Dialogue on the Annual Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights during the 53rd Session of the Human Rights Council
(19 June-14 July 2023) delivered by Ms. Seema Pujani, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India, Geneva, 21 June 2023
Mr. Vice-President,
India is exercising the right of reply in response to the statement delivered by Pakistan in the Interactive Dialogue on the Annual Report of the High Commissioner under Agenda Item 2.
2. Pakistan has yet again misused the platform offered by this august Council for its misleading diatribe against India which only shows their desperation, deep sense of insecurity, entrenched hatred for India and their tendency to deflect the Council’s attention from the grave human rights situation in Pakistan.
3. The Council is aware of the blatant abuses and violations of human rights in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and in parts of Pakistan, including Baluchistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Various international organizations have repeatedly reported on how enforced disappearances, state perpetrated violence, forced mass displacements and harassment continue with impunity in Pakistan, where dissenting journalists, activists, students and others are routinely abducted and unlawfully killed.
4. Worse is the fate of minorities in Pakistan including Christians, Hindus, Shias, Ahmadiyas, Ismailis and Hazaras, who have been subjected to sectarian violence and systemic and institutional discrimination. Women and girls, especially from minority communities, are abducted and forcibly married. The minorities are persecuted, including through notorious blasphemy laws.
5. The deplorable situation of human rights in Pakistan has been evident in recent violent protests, multiple deaths, mass arrests and ‘indefinite’ ban on mobile internet since the arrest of the former prime minister Imran Khan in Pakistan.
6. We are not surprised that the delegation of Pakistan, has avoided informing the Council of its efforts for meeting its human rights obligations towards its people. We all know that Pakistan has failed in doing so because the Government has been busy exporting terrorism and repressing its own population.
7. Pakistan would do well to end its support to cross border terrorism in its neighborhood and beyond and focus on addressing the grave human rights situation of its own people.
I thank you.
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