Right of Reply at the High-Level Segment of the 55th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council (26 Feb – 5 April 2024), delivered by Ms. Anupama Singh, First Secretary, Wednesday, 28 February 2024, Geneva

Mr. President,

1.  India is exercising its Right of Reply in response to references to India during the High-Level Segment. Firstly, we regret the comment made by Türkiye on a matter that is an internal affair of India, and hope that it would refrain from making unsolicited comments on our internal matters in future.

2.  Secondly, with regard to the extensive references to India made by Pakistan, we note that it is deeply unfortunate for the Council’s platform to have once again been misused to make patently false allegations against India. We are constrained to respond, but as we don’t wish to similarly waste the Council’s time, we will make only three points:

3.  One, the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India; and the Constitutional measures taken by the Government of India to ensure socio-economic development and good governance in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are matters internal to India. Pakistan has no locus standi to pronounce on matters that are internal to India.

4.  Two, a country that has institutionalized the systemic persecution of its own minorities and has a truly abysmal human rights record, commenting on India which is demonstrably making great strides in achieving economic progress and social justice, is not merely ironical but perverse. A glaring example was large scale brutality perpetrated against minority Christian community in Jaranwala city in Pakistan in August 2023, when 19 churches were gutted and 89 Christian houses burnt down.

5.  Three, a country that hosts and even celebrates UNSC-sanctioned terrorists, commenting on India whose pluralistic ethos and democratic credentials are exemplars for the world, is a contrast for everyone to see.

Mr. President,

6.  I will conclude by only emphasizing that we cannot pay any further attention to a country that speaks while being soaked in red - the red of the bloodshed from the terrorism it sponsors around the world; the red of its debt-riddled national balance sheets; and the red of the shame its own people feel for their government having failed to serve their actual interests.

I thank you.