United Nations: India has expressed disappointment with the UN for ignoring the repression in Pakistan, particularly in the part of Kashmir it occupies, while it condemns similar developments elsewhere.
India’s Permanent Representative P. Harish Thursday listed Islamabad’s suppression of human rights and stifling of freedom in occupied Kashmir and across the nation, and said, “While similar developments in other countries are excoriated by the United Nations, such repression and developments in Pakistan do not receive the attention they deserve”.
“The ongoing developments in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir fully expose the true nature of the Pakistani state, he said at the Security Council Open Debate on “Strengthening the Mechanisms for Peaceful Settlement of Disputes”.
Responding to Islamabad raising the Kashmir issue at the Security Council debate, he said, “The world is witness to the continued suppression of basic rights, freedom of expression and association and stifling of fundamental freedoms of Kashmiris in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir”.
“These are not isolated instances, but part of a larger design by the Pakistani establishment in Pakistan occupied Kashmir for close to eight decades”, he said.
Kashmiris in the Pakistan-occupied area agitating for their rights have been ruthlessly put down by the Islamabad regime.
At least 34 Kashmiris have been killed since June by its security forces.
In the most recent incident, six Kashmiris were killed by Islamabad’s forces in Tararkhal July 14.
Among the examples of repression, he cited the imprisonment of leaders, including a prime minister, and the outlawing of the main opposition party.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan is currently in prison after convictions by courts on what he and his supporters say are spurious charges made up to prevent his political participation after the military establishment grew disenchanted with him.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has effectively been barred from participating in elections and has been threatened with a formal ban.
Harish also said the military, which has ruled Pakistan directly or indirectly throughout its history, has carried out a constitutional coup through the 27th Amendment to its Constitution.
The amendment reinforces the powers of the top Army leader and grants lifelong immunity from criminal prosecution to the top-most military leaders.
Such “actions have decimated any semblance of democracy,” Harish said.
“Pakistan would do well to look inward and address the real issues in the country rather than resorting to fabricated narrative construction with religious imagery aimed at scoring domestic brownie points and misleading the wider UN membership”, he said.
He reiterated that “the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has always been, is, and will remain an integral and inalienable part of India” even if Pakistan chooses not to face reality.
“The only outstanding issue with regard to Jammu and Kashmir is the naked aggression and illegal occupation of India’s sovereign territory by Pakistan,” he said.
