New Delhi: India exercised its sixth Right of Reply against Pakistan's unabating rant over Jammu and Kashmir and minority issues over the course of the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
On Wednesday, Indian diplomat Pawan Badhe exercised the Right of Reply during an Interactive dialogue with the Assistant Secretary-General of Human Rights on the report of the Secretary-General on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights.
Badhe said, "No fabricated words against India is going to change the fact that Pakistan and territories under its control are death traps for journalists, human rights defenders, social activists and religious and ethnic minorities. Perennial India bashing project of Pakistan in the UN system is also not going to change the fact that hundreds of Journalists and Human rights defenders die each year in Pakistan due to systematic killings including extrajudicial ones".
Incessant attempts to maligning India in all international forum is not going to change the fact that tens of thousands of minorities would not stop fleeing Pakistan. Resorting to abusive and unacceptable language against India in this august forum can't rectify Pakistan's dubious human rights records, he added.
Pakistan's India focus agenda demonstrates its own hollowness when it comes to accountability and justice for oppressing those standing for their rights. The pathetic state of Affairs for journalists and human rights defenders is well known when the deep state could make prominent journalists disappear in broad daylight at the heart of Pakistan, he said.
India has been raising voice against Pakistan's dubious attempt to raise Kashmir issue in the UN. India has time and again raised the matter of atrocities meted out to the minorities of Pakistan, people of Balochistan and the journalistic fraternity who dare question on the Pakistan establishment's authority.
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While Pakistan asserted at the forum that there was the incitement of hatred in India, Badhe said, "We are not baffled that Pakistan dos well when it comes to inciting hatred against religious minorities and targeting our leadership with hate speeches. It's well cherished and inherited culture of hatred makes it the perfect candidate for carrying forward the legacy of intolerance against anybody having modern views on human rights".
"We only could imagine the fate for those journalists and human rights defenders in territories under its control. Silence is the apt word for them effected through enforced disappearances, murders, detentions, custodial deaths and torture in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Pakistan occupied parts of Indin Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh", the Indian diplomat added.
Taking a jibe at Pakistan, the diplomat said that while the world has progressed well, Pakistan is still at the crossroads to understand the real meaning of modern laws, democracy and Human rights. " The language of accountability, civic space, fundamental freedoms, public participation is yet to find resonance with the authorities of Pakistan", he reiterated.
The Right of Reply exercised by India in the UN forum was on September 15, 21, 24, 25, 26 and 29 respectively. This is diplomat Pawan Badhe's third Right of Reply that has been delivered by India.
