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Arab News
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistan dismisses Indian rights abuse claims, accuses New Delhi of persecuting minorities
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly rejected Indian allegations of minority rights violations, accusing New Delhi of persecuting its own citizens and 'exporting chaos abroad,' the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported on Thursday. The exchange took place during a debate in the United Nations General Assembly on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), a global commitment aimed at preventing genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Addressing the session, Pakistan's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, criticized what he described as the selective application of the R2P doctrine, saying it had become 'meaningless' in the face of the international community's failure to prevent mass atrocities in Palestine and Indian-administered Kashmir. India responded by accusing Pakistan of violating the rights of its minorities and being complicit in a recent militant attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir. Exercising her right of reply, Pakistani delegate Rabia Ijaz, a second secretary at Pakistan's UN Mission, dismissed the accusations as 'a textbook case of the perpetrator posturing as a victim.' 'A state that has weaponized hate, normalized mob violence and codified discrimination against its own citizens – and against those it occupies – has no moral standing to speak on the Responsibility to Protect,' the APP quoted her as saying. Ijaz went on to describe India as a 'majoritarian autocracy,' where minorities, particularly Muslims, Christians and Dalits, face discrimination. 'Lynching is met with silence,' she continued. 'Bulldozers become tools of collective punishment. Mosques are razed. Citizenship is denied based on religion.' 'This is not the protection of people,' she added. 'This is their persecution, sanctified by law and celebrated by power.' Ijaz maintained India had launched an 'unprovoked and deliberate' cross-border attack on civilian areas in Pakistan earlier this year in May, killing 35 people. 'R2P cannot become a slogan for serial violators to hide behind,' she said. 'It cannot be invoked by those who deny rights at home and export chaos abroad.' India and Pakistan have long been at odds with each other, though diplomatic tensions have intensified in recent years. The two nuclear-armed neighbors have repeatedly traded barbs at international forums particularly after their relationship deteriorated following the recent four-day military standoff, one of the most serious flare-ups in several decades.
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Pakistan slams India at UNGA over human rights abuses, state terrorism
Listen to article 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. Read More: Pakistan assumes UNSC presidency today 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. Also Read: Pakistan advances peace at UNSC 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.
