Right of Reply by India under Agenda Item 4 – General Debate at the 54th Session of Human Rights Council (11 September - 13 October 2023) delivered by Dr. P.R. Thulasidhass, Under Secretary, Geneva, 27 September 2023
Mr. President,
India is exercising the right of reply in response to the statement delivered by Pakistan in the General Debate under Agenda Item 4.
2. As a country with an abysmal human rights record, Pakistan has no credibility to comment on India. We reject their baseless allegations. Their desperate attempts to peddle falsehoods that abuse the sanctity of this august forum deserve our collective admonition.
3. Pakistan has failed miserably in protecting the rights of its ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Ahmadiyas, and Shia Muslims, who are systemically persecuted on a daily basis and deprived of their human rights, especially their freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression and right to life.
4. In contrast to the empty rhetoric delivered by Pakistan delegation in the Council, only last week, nearly 75 graves and minarets of two worship places belonging to the Ahmadiya community were demolished by the Pakistan police and radicalists in Punjab province. Tension still grips Daska city as the radicalists threaten to raze the minarets of a historic worship place of this community that was declared non-Muslim by the Pakistani Parliament in 1974. This is not a one-off incident. Such state sponsored and state condoned desecration and violence against minorities characterise Pakistan’s society and polity.
5. In August 2023, over 19 churches were gutted and 89 Christian houses burnt down in broad daylight in Jaranwala in Pakistan’s Faisalabad district by vigilante mobs on allegations of blasphemy. In the face of the Human Rights Committee’s recommendations to repeal or amend its blasphemy laws, that carry a potential death sentence and have been misused to target minorities, Pakistan recently enhanced minimum punishment for those who insult revered personalities from three to ten years.
6. The condition of women belonging to minority communities remains just as deplorable. According to a recent report published by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an estimated 1,000 women from minority communities are subjected to abduction and forced conversion and marriage in the country every year. The Council must also pay attention to the continued sufferings of millions of people in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Mr. President,
7. We reiterate that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral and inalienable parts of India. We call upon Pakistan to vacate Indian territories under its illegal and forcible occupation and end systemic persecution, discriminatory policies, and violations of human rights of the people there.
I thank you.
