Pakistan remains safe harbour of terrorists: India at UNHRC

Exercising its "Right of Reply" at a discussion in Geneva on situations requiring the attention of the UN Human Rights Council, Indian diplomat Pawan Badhe said that Pakistan continues to be a "safe harbour for terrorists." India also launched a blistering attack on Pakistan for raking up Kashmir issuer at UNHRC.

New Delhi: Indian diplomat Pawan Badhe on Monday while exercising its Right of Reply at the ongoing session of 45th UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) said that Pakistan continues to be a “safe harbour for terrorists” and more training camps and launch-pads for terrorists had come up in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

India rejected Pakistan’s criticism of the human rights situation in the country and called on Islamabad to do more to tackle issues such as the persecution of minorities, enforced disappearances and influx of outsiders in PoK.

Lambasting Pakistan for raking up Kashmir issue at UNHRC, Pawan Badhe, first secretary in the permanent mission in Geneva said, “While the world is busy combating the Covid-19 pandemic, Pakistan hoodwinks the world to allow delisting more than 4,000 proscribed terrorists to sustain its terror ecosystem".

"It should be a matter of concern for the Council that Pakistan has been continuously misusing this august forum for malicious propaganda against my country”, he added.

Badhe noted that Pakistan’s “deceit and hypocrisy” is reflected in the “orchestrated mass influx” of outsiders to the Pakistan-occupied parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh through “discriminatory domicile laws”.

“It’s baffling that there are three outsiders for every four [people] in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. While civil, political and constitutional rights are non-existent in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, deliberate economic policies have also subjugated them to a life of extreme poverty,” he said.

A simple demand for land rights could lead to imprisonment for 40 years as has been in the faith for political activists such as Baba Jan and others.

At the same time, “full-scale training camps and launch pads of terrorists are being escalated in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh at great expense for sustaining cross-border terrorism against India. It’s not without reason that Pakistan remains a safe harbour for terrorists.

Badhe strongly highlighted that nothing can change the fact that the “entire territory of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh is an integral part of India”, and Pakistan should see the reality and “stop coveting territories of other countries”.

Statistics and data from international organisations have demonstrated that Pakistan is a “minefield for journalists and human rights defenders”, who is often subject to murder, harassment and assault, it further said.

Moreover, Different international organisations had described Pakistan as the “killing field for minorities” and the Ahmadi community continues to be the most persecuted community in Pakistan. “Hundreds of Christians are persecuted every year while a maximum of them are subjected to violent deaths in Pakistan,” Badhe said.

Pakistan had also “institutionalized enforced disappearance as a tool of subjugation against dissent and criticism” against individuals and the entire society, the Indian response said.

The Indian diplomat underlined that those Children as young as 12 years old in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh are normally abducted and trained to be suicide bombers.

“In a chilling reminder to what Pakistan is capable of, ministers of Pakistan proudly call for another full-scale genocide against [the Baloch people to resolve the political crisis in Balochistan,” the Indian response added.

Earlier, India cornered Pakistan on the human rights issue and terrorism on several platforms. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar raised the issue of cross border terrorism at a virtual gathering of SAARC Council of ministers.

Whereas, last week on Thursday, India slammed Pakistan in its Right of Reply saying that Pakistan as a state is a threat not only to religious and ethnic minorities within Pakistan and in the illegally occupied territories in India but if left unchecked by the international community, it will grow on to become a threat to the international peace and harmony.