New Delhi: India responded amply to what it called Pakistan’s “false allegations, concocted charges and fabricated narrative” at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council (HRC) session in Geneva on Tuesday. The MEA’s Secretary (East) Vijay Thakur Singh defended India’s recent move to bifurcate J&K and revoke Article 370, on grounds that included gender equality and an end to discrimination.
She pointed out that the decision was “sovereign and internal to India”.
Asserting that it was “an ancient civilisation with immense and rich diversity” and the world’s “largest democracy” that promoted human rights, she made it clear India would “certainly not” accept any interference in its internal affairs.
Ms Singh said “these decisions were taken by our Parliament after a full debate that was televised and enjoyed widespread support”.
The senior diplomat encapsulated the main points of her speech in her short and crisp opening remarks that lasted just a little more than two minutes in which she described Pakistan (without naming it directly) as the “epicentre of terrorism” that “conducts cross-border terrorism as a form of alternate diplomacy”, adding that it “tramples” upon minorities “at will” but “cries victim when it actually is the perpetrator”.
The MEA’s secretary (East) said that “despite challenging circumstances, Jammu & Kashmir’s civil administration is ensuring basic services, essential supplies, normal functioning of institutions, mobility, and nearly full connectivity”.
She told the global community that “democratic processes have been initiated, restrictions are being eased continuously, (and that) temporary preventive and precautionary measures were necessitated to ensure safety and security of our citizens in the face of credible threats of cross-border terrorism”.
Lashing out at Pakistan, Ms Singh, a 1985 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and former envoy to Ireland and Singapore, said that “one delegation (Pakistan) has given a running commentary with offensive rhetoric of false allegations and concocted charges against my country” and “the world is aware that this fabricated narrative comes from the epicentre of global terrorism, where ring leaders were sheltered for years”.
She said those “who are misusing this platform for malicious political agendas under the garb of human rights” are “attempting to speak on the human rights of minorities in other countries whilst trampling upon them at will in their own country.... They (Pakistan) cry victim when they actually are the perpetrators.”
Meanwhile, shortly after his vitriolic speech targeting India at the UNHRC session in Geneva, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in an apparent slip of the tongue that caused grave embarrassment to his country and much delight to India, described J&K as an “Indian State”.
