Pakistan slams India at UNGA over human rights abuses, state terrorism

Express Tribune

a day ago

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Pakistan, in a strongly worded statement at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), accused India of widespread human rights abuses, religious persecution, and sponsoring terrorism within Pakistan.
Responding to remarks made earlier by the Indian representative, Second Secretary at Pakistan's Permanent Mission to the UN Rabia Ijaz said she was compelled to reply to what she termed a 'misleading and hypocritical narrative' presented by New Delhi.
'This is a classic case of an oppressor masquerading as the victim,' she said, adding that India had 'weaponised hate, normalised mob violence, and institutionalised discrimination' against its own citizens, particularly religious minorities, as well as against the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
She rejected India's invocation of the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), arguing that a state system built on exclusion and repression had 'no moral ground' to invoke such doctrines.
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The Pakistani diplomat stated that India, under the BJP-RSS nexus, had transformed into a 'majoritarian autocracy,' where Muslims, Christians, and Dalits were living under 'constant fear.'
She pointed to a spate of mob lynchings, the use of bulldozers for collective punishment, the demolition of mosques, and discriminatory laws that strip citizenship on religious grounds as evidence of systematic state-sponsored oppression.
On the Kashmir dispute, Rabia rejected India's claims that the region is an internal matter while reiterating Pakistan's long-standing position that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised disputed territory.
Citing UN Security Council resolutions — including 47 (1948), 91 (1951), and 122 (1957) — she said the people of Kashmir must be allowed to exercise their right to self-determination through a 'free and impartial plebiscite.'
'India had accepted these resolutions and is bound under Article 25 of the UN Charter to implement them,' she said. 'Its continued refusal is a persistent violation of international law.'
Ijaz also accused India of launching unprovoked attacks on civilian areas in Pakistan on May 6 and 7 this year, resulting in the deaths of 35 innocent people. She condemned the strikes as a violation of the UN Charter and international humanitarian law.
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Raising the issue of children in conflict zones, the Pakistani representative noted India was responsible for the killing of 15 children in Pakistan in what she described as a 'massacre.' She urged the UN to document these incidents in all relevant reports, saying the attacks were not the result of military engagements but deliberate targeting of civilians.
Rabia further shared Indian involvement in a series of terrorist incidents inside Pakistan, ranging from the 2014 Army Public School attack to a recent assault on a school bus in Khuzdar.
She stated that Indian intelligence agencies were supporting banned outfits such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in an ongoing 'covert war' against Pakistan.
'These are not mere accusations,' she said, adding, 'They are backed by documented evidence and public admissions made by former Indian officials.'
Concluding her address, the Pakistani envoy cautioned against the selective use of international principles, saying R2P must not become a 'slogan' for states that themselves engage in systematic oppression at home and destabilisation abroad.
'If the international community is truly committed to the principle of protection, it must begin by holding all perpetrators accountable — India included. There can be no exceptions, no blind spots, and no double standards,' she added.