UNITED NATIONS, Jul 03 : A Pakistani delegate has debunked India’s claim that Pakistan was failing to safeguard the rights of its religious minorities,
calling the accusation “a textbook case of the perpetrator posturing as a victim”.
“A state that has weaponized hate, normalized mob violence, and codified discrimination against its own citizens – and against those it occupies – has no moral standing to speak on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P),” Rabia Ijaz, a second secretary in the Pakistan Mission to the UN, said about India in the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
The 193-member Assembly held a debate on R2P, a concept aimed at preventing and responding to atrocity crimes, during which Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, said that the doctrine had become “meaningless” following the international community’s failure to stop the mass killing of civilians in occupied Palestine and Kashmir.
Reacting to Ambassador Jadoon’s sharp statement, a representative of India accused Pakistan of violating the rights of its minorities, and of its involvement in the recent attack in Pahalgam, Indian occupied Kashmir, as well as claiming that the Himalayan state was its integral part.
Excercizing her right of reply, Ms. Ijaz, the Pakistani delegate, said, “Under the (ruling) BJP-RSS regime, India has descended into a majoritarian autocracy where all minorities – Muslims, Christians, and Dalits live under siege.
“Lynching is met with silence. Bulldozers become tools of collective punishment. Mosques are razed. Citizenship is denied based on religion. This is not the protection of people — this is their persecution, sanctified by law and celebrated by power.”
On Jammu and Kashmir, she said India’s claim of it being an “integral part” or an “internal matter” was pure political and legal fiction.
“Jammu and Kashmir never was nor is an integral part of India,” the Pakistani delegate said, noting that the UN recognizes it as a disputed territory. Numerous Security Council Resolutions, along with those of the UN Commission for India and Pakistan, reaffirm the right of the Kashmiri people to determine their own future through a free and impartial plebiscite.
“India not only accepted these obligations — it is bound by Article 25 of the UN Charter to comply. Its refusal to do so constitutes a continuing violation of international law,” Ms. Ijaz said.
She went in to say that India recently launched an unprovoked and deliberate attack on civilian areas in Pakistan, martyring 35 innocent people.
About India’s sponsorship of terrorism, the Pakistani delegate said that from the 2014 Army Public School massacre to the recent school bus attack in Khuzdar, the fingerprints of Indian intelligence agencies are evident. “Through its support to TTP and BLA, India continues to wage covert war against Pakistan.”
In conclusion, she said, “R2P cannot become a slogan for serial violators to hide behind. It cannot be invoked by those who deny rights at home and export chaos abroad. If the international community is serious about protection, then it must first protect vulnerable populations from the very states that are the perpetrators, including India.”
Follow the PNI Facebook page for the latest news and updates.
