NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday shot down a request from the United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner for unconditional access to Kashmir. Its sharp rebuke came on the grounds that in seeking access to Jammu and Kashmir in tandem with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), he had sought to equate a democratically governed state with an undemocratically ruled borough that was a global terror hub.
- There is no comparison between democratic J&K and PoK, which has been rocked by protests over rigged elections.
- 2. India pointed out that it is well acknowledged that the unrest in Kashmir was sparked off by the killing of a terrorist.
- External Affairs Ministry asked the UN human rights chief to look into the conversion of PoK into a terrorism hub.
The statement by UN Human Rights High Commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein had come earlier in the day as part of a human rights update delivered to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Responding to the reference to India’s commitment as a member of the Human Rights Council, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the HRC should acknowledge that “Terrorism is the grossest violation of human rights”, and that there was no comparison between PoK and Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir is part of a pluralistic and secular democracy, where freedoms are guaranteed by an independent judiciary, an active media and a vibrant civil society. In contrast, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is administered by a ‘deep state’ and has become a hub for the global export of terror,” MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a statement.
As Mr. Hussein stated at the HRC in Geneva is significant as it sought to put India in the same bracket as Syria, Ethiopia and Venezuela, calling them part of “an emerging pattern” of UN member states who deny the UN body access.
“Human rights violations will not disappear if a government blocks access to international observers and then invests in a public relations campaign to offset any unwanted publicity. On the contrary, efforts to duck or refuse legitimate scrutiny raise an obvious question: what, precisely, are you hiding from us?” he asked in a statement seen as the strongest criticism of countries accused of human rights violations in the last few years.
Though, Mr. Hussein made it clear that he intends to arise what he calls the “alienation and frustration of many throughout the world who feel short-changed by poor governance and corruption” at the UN Summit on refugees and migrants in New York.
“Accordingly, an all-party delegation visited Srinagar. Despite cross-border terrorist infiltration that saw an encounter only yesterday, government remains fully engaged in normalising the situation as soon as possible”.
The Indian statement claimed that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had “received conflicting narratives on the cause for the confrontations.”
However, India said the demand for an “external mission” had been dismissed by the all-party conference that sent a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir.
“The high number of casualties sustained by Indian security forces is a reflection of the tremendous restraint they have displayed in difficult circumstances,” the MEA spokesperson said in the statement rejecting both Pakistan’s contentions and the UN Human Rights Chief’s demands to investigate in India.
