Geneva: Pakistan has the “unique distinction” of hosting the most number of UNSC-designated terrorists and terror organisations, and its policies are directly responsible for thousands of civilian deaths in the world, India has said as it slammed Islamabad for its “malicious propaganda” against it.
Exercising its right of reply to Pakistan’s statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Friday, India said when it is not entirely focused on suppressing its own population, Pakistan actively lends its energies to aid, host and abet international terrorists.
“It has the unique distinction of hosting the most number of UNSC designated terrorists and terror organisations. Osama bin Laden lived next to Pakistan’s premier military academy. Its security agencies have nurtured and sheltered Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar for decades,” First Secretary of India’s Permanent Mission to UN Seema Pujani said.
“These are but a few dreaded names from the annals of Pakistan’s history of supporting terrorism. Pakistan’s policies are directly responsible for the death of thousands of civilians around the world,” she said in response to a statement delivered by Pakistan.
Pujani said Pakistan’s obsession with India while its population battles for their lives, livelihood and freedom is an indication of the state’s misplaced priorities.
She said its leaders and officials should focus their energies on working for the benefit of their own population instead of “baseless propaganda” against India.
“Pakistan’s representative has once again chosen to misuse this august forum for its malicious propaganda against India,” she said.
Pujani raised the issue of enforced disappearances, saying students, doctors, engineers, teachers, and community leaders are regularly disappeared by the State never to return.
“Pakistan is a State which responds to any calls for reforms with enforced disappearances. In the last decade, Pakistan’s own Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has received 8,463 complaints. The Baloch people have borne the brunt of this cruel policy,” she said.
In her statement, Pujani also expressed regret over a statement made by Turkiye at the UN session.
“We regret the comments made by Türkiye on a matter that is an internal affair of India and advise it to refrain from making unsolicited comments on our internal matters,” she said.
Pujani also spoke about the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan and asserted that no religious minority can freely live or practice its religion in the Muslim-majority country.
“The Ahmadiya community continues to be persecuted by the State for simply practicing their faith. To even obtain a Pakistani passport, the community has to denounce its founder. Equally worse is the treatment of the Christian community. It is frequently targeted through draconian blasphemy laws.
“State institutions officially reserve ‘sanitation’ jobs for Christians. Underage girls from the community are converted to Islam abetted by a predatory state and an apathetic judiciary. Hindu and Sikh communities face similar issues of frequent attacks on their places of worship and forced conversion of their underage girls,” she said.
The Indian diplomat said the State’s crackdown on those who wish to raise their voice against any of these heinous policies is also incomparable.
“A bill which proposes a five-year jail term for anyone who ‘scandalises or ridicules’ the military or the judiciary is currently on the table in Pakistan’s Parliament,” she said.
