Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri. Courtesy Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Foreign Office spokesperson urges Delhi to set its own house in order before ‘preaching’ to the rest of the world
Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Tuesday described as “hypocritical” India’s claims of advocating dialogue and protecting international law during its tenure as head of the United Nations Security Council, alleging its actions within its own state prove the falsity of such assertions.
“It is highly hypocritical of a country that has systematically done away with any semblance of moderation, efforts for dialogue and abiding by international law, to project itself as the voice of these three,” spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said in a statement. Earlier, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had said that India would act as a voice of moderation, advocate of dialogue; and proponent of international law during its one-month term as the president of the UNSC.
A non-permanent member of the UNSC for a two-year term, India assumed presidency of the 15-nation body for August over the weekend. The leadership of the global body rotates between the members by alphabetical order, with India set to assume the presidency one more time before its term ends on Dec. 31, 2022.
In his statement, Chaudhri reiterated Pakistan’s stance of an extremist “Hindutva” ideology permeating all Indian state institutions, adding that RSS-BJP regime of Narendra Modi had repeatedly committed gross and systematic violations of the rights of religious minorities, particularly Muslims. He said Delhi would be wise to set its own house in order before preaching moderation to the rest of the world.
He also hit out at India’s claims of advocating dialogue, pointing to Delhi’s refusal to hold constructive and meaningful dialogue with Pakistan despite overtures from Islamabad. He recalled that Prime Minister Imran Khan had, upon assuming office, clearly stated that if India took one step forward for peace, Pakistan would take two.
“However, rather than engaging in dialogue, India vitiated the environment through its illegal and unilateral actions of Aug. 5, 2019,” he said of Delhi’s unilateral decision to abrogate the special constitutional status of India-held Jammu and Kashmir.
“As for international law, India remains in clear violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions for more than seven decades,” said Chaudri, highlighting that its decisions since Aug. 5, 2019 were in blatant violation of international law, including the U.N. Charter, UNSC resolutions and the fourth Geneva Convention. “India would be well-advised to abide by these principles before projecting itself as their champion,” he added.
Human rights violations
Separately, the Foreign Office also condemned the “custodial death and extrajudicial killing” of two Kashmiris by Indian forces in India-held Kashmir. It said one of them had died in custody, while the other was killed in a “fake encounter,” adding that this brought to over 100 the number of innocent Kashmiris who had been killed by Indian forces in 2021 thus far. “The occupation army has intensified arbitrary detention of Kashmiris and their extrajudicial killings in the name of so-called ‘cordon-and-search operations,’” it said, alleging that authorities had also refused to return the remains of the deceased to their families for funerals.
“India should be well aware that use of brutal force against innocent Kashmiris will never succeed in breaking their will to fight for their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions,” it said, and called upon the international community to hold India to account for its grave human rights violations in the disputed territory.