India on Friday criticised Pakistan for raising the Kashmir dispute at a United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva for the second day in a row, NDTV reported. The world does not require lessons on democracy and human rights from a “failed state”, Mini Devi Kumam, the second secretary at India’s UN Mission in Geneva, said.
“Even as terrorists thrive in Pakistan and roam its streets with impunity, we have heard it lecture about the protection of human rights in India,” IANS quoted Kumam as saying. “We await credible action by the government of Pakistan to bring all those involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack and the 2016 Pathankot and Uri attacks to justice.”
Earlier on Friday, Tahir Andrabi, Pakistan’s UN Deputy Permanent Representative in Geneva, had invoked Jawaharlal Nehru to make his case for a plebiscite in Kashmir. “India needs to end the impunity enjoyed by its security forces and allow unfettered access to a UN fact-finding team to investigate human rights violations in Kashmir,” The Express Tribune quoted Andrabi as saying.
The Pakistan envoy said India’s efforts to keep the United Nations out of Kashmir is a “desperate attempt” to hide its “atrocities in the most militarised zone of the world”.
Kumam pointed out that while Islamabad kept referring to UN Security Council Resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir, it conveniently skipped over its own obligation under these resolutions to vacate its illegally occupied territory in Kashmir. “It [Pakistan] has also blatantly disregarded its other commitments, be it under the 1972 Simla Agreement or Lahore Declaration of February 1999,” she said.
Kumam accused Pakistan of protecting Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban commander Mullah Omar, and wondered how it still had the “gumption to play the victim”.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!