India on Thursday reiterated its strong criticism of a UN human rights report on Jammu and Kashmir.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumartermed the Update of the Report by the Office of the High Commission for HumanRights (OHCHR) issued on Monday as “a false and motivated narrative on thesituation in Jammu and Kashmir and in violation of India’s sovereignty andterritorial integrity”.
He said the report “ignores” the whole issue ofcross-border militancy. “There was no mention of cross borderterrorism”.
“We also feel that the report and the Update seem to bean effort to create an artificial parity between the world’s largest and mostvibrant democracy (India) and a country that openly practises state-sponsoredterrorism,” he added.
He said the Update “seems to have accorded legitimacyto militancy, which is completely in variance with the UNSC position,”adding that in the past the UNSC has proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed chief MasoodAzhar and other groups.
The spokesperson said that by publishing and coming out withthis report and update “they have undermined their own credibility”.
“They have failed to recognise an independentjudiciary, human rights institutions and other mechanisms in the Indian stateof Jammu and Kashmir that safeguard, protect and promote constitutionallyguaranteed fundamental rights to all citizens of India.”
The Update also “belittles constitutional provisions,statutory procedures and established practices in an established functioningdemocracy”.
The spokesperson said the Update “has a prejudicedmindset” and “wilfully ignores the determined socio-economicdevelopment efforts which have been undertaken by the government in Jammu andKashmir”.”The Update is an unacceptable advocacy ofthe dismemberment of a UN member state. Pakistan is in illegal and forcibleoccupation of a part of the Indian state, including the so-called ‘Azad Jammuand Kashmir’ and ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, through aggression. We have repeatedlycalled on Pakistan to vacate these territories,” he added.