Geneva: India firmly rejected “baseless and malicious allegations” by Pakistan, while dismissing references to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir made by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), reiterating that the region remains an “integral and inalienable” part of the country.
Speaking at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council, First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, Anupama Singh said, “India is compelled to exercise its right of reply in response to the references made to it by Pakistan and the OIC. We categorically reject the baseless and malicious allegations made by Pakistan. We also categorically reject the references to J&K made by the OIC. Pakistan’s propaganda is designed to mask its domestic failures and support for terrorism. Its misuse of the OIC coordinator’s role only reinforces deception. We have no desire to dignify such propaganda. “
“However, we would like to make a few points. For the record, Jammu and Kashmir was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. The only unresolved issue is Pakistan’s illegal occupation of Indian territories and their return. Pakistan’s propaganda cannot obscure the reality of repression in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” she added.
Singh said that the prevailing unrest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) was the inevitable consequence of decades of repression, military control, and the denial of fundamental rights, asserting that an “illegal and illegitimate occupation” could only be sustained through force.
“The ongoing tragedy in Rawalakot, the killing of hundreds of civilians, and the brutal crackdown across Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir are the predictable outcome of a system built on forcible occupation and sustained through repression. Decades of military land grabs, demographic engineering, and the denial of basic freedoms have brought matters to a point where even demand for bread, electricity, rights, and dignity are met with bullets and brutality. This should surprise no one. An illegal and illegitimate occupation can be sustained only through force,” she noted.
Singh also accused Pakistan of pursuing terrorism as state policy while simultaneously portraying itself as a victim of terrorism.
“This is the country where the sitting Defence Minister boasts of hosting, training, and deploying terrorists as state policy, and yet Pakistan calls itself a victim of terrorism. Indeed, a paradox which only Pakistan could sustain. It is a living example of a Frankenstein state, which is shocked when its own monster bites back,” she stated,
Commenting on the Indus Waters Treaty, Singh said that it was unreasonable for Pakistan to seek the benefits of cooperation and goodwill while continuing to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy, adding that the treaty had become outdated.
“Our position on Indus Water Treaty is well known. It defies logic that a state which exports terror as an instrument of policy continues to demand the privileges of cooperation predicated on goodwill and friendship. It is equally undeniable that the treaty is now outdated. No technical arrangement can remain frozen in time while the world around it is transformed. A treaty negotiated in 1960 cannot be treated as a perpetual entitlement, which is insulated from accountability, detached from present-day realities, and untouched by the profound changes of the past six decades,” she stressed.
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