India’s strong message

10/07/2019

Sending a strong message across the globe, India has lodged a strong protest with the UN rights office over its report on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, slamming it as a continuation of the earlier “false and motivated” narrative and violative of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. In a strong reaction, the External Affairs Ministry said the report ignores the core issue of cross-border terrorism and seems to accord legitimacy to terrorism that is in complete variance with positions of UN Security Council, which had strongly condemned the dastardly Pulwama terror attack and subsequently proscribed Masood Azhar, the Pakistan-based terrorist. India’s retort came after the Geneva-based Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which last year released its first-ever report on Kashmir, issued an ‘update’ of the 2018 report on Monday, claiming that “neither India nor Pakistan have taken any concrete steps to address the numerous concerns raised”. The report also said the civilian casualties reported in Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from May 2018 to April 2019 may be the highest in over a decade and called on the UN Human Rights Council to consider “the possible establishment of a commission of inquiry to conduct a comprehensive independent international investigations into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir”.
Replying to a query about the report, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar in New Delhi said the update of the earlier OHCHR report is “merely a continuation of the earlier false and motivated narrative” on the situation in J&K. The update seems to be a contrived effort to create an artificial parity between the world’s largest and the most vibrant democracy and a country that openly practices state-sponsored terrorism. Expressing “deep concern” that the report seems to accord a legitimacy to terrorism that is in complete variance with UNSC positions and the UNSC had, in February 2019, strongly condemned the dastardly Pulwama terror attack and subsequently proscribed Masood Azhar, the self-styled leader of terrorist entity Jaish-e-Mohammed. However, in the update, terrorist leaders and organisations sanctioned by the UN are deliberately underplayed as ‘armed groups’. India has repeatedly called on Pakistan to vacate these occupied territories. The “prejudiced mindset” of the update has also chosen to wilfully ignore the determined and comprehensive socioeconomic developmental efforts undertaken by the Indian Government in the face of challenges posed by terrorists. Under Modi Govt India has always been on front foot and aggressive and not defensive.

Photo Gallery

BSE Sensex

NSE Nifty