Global News

New Delhi: 

India has reacted strongly and lodged a diplomatic protest over a new report by the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian government has called the report “false, with a motivated narrative”. The report called on India to “respect the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir as protected under international law”.

The Ministry of External Affairs has accused the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights of “legitimising terrorism” and said the assertions in the report are “in violation of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and ignore the core issue of cross-border terrorism.”

“It is a… contrived effort to create an artificial parity between the world’s largest and the most vibrant democracy and a country that openly practices state-sponsored terrorism,” the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The UN Commissioner’s report, a follow up to one that it filed last year, said there are “serious human rights violations and patterns of impunity” in Jammu and Kashmir and significant human rights concerns witnessed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as well.

This includes what the UN body describes as the “excessive use of force” by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, torture, “arbitrary” detentions of dissidents and internet shut downs.

India said “the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. Pakistan is in illegal and forcible occupation of a part of the Indian state, including the so called ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ and ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, through aggression. We have repeatedly called on Pakistan to vacate these occupied territories.”