- India criticised Pakistan’s minority rights record and Kargil treatment.
- India questioned UN report’s COVID discrimination focus on Global South.
- India challenged report’s advocacy for terrorist funeral rights.
India criticised Pakistan at the United Nations over its record on minority rights and the treatment of its own soldiers killed during the 1999 Kargil conflict, recalling how the Indian Army buried several Pakistani troops with military honours and Islamic rites. The intervention was delivered by Bhavika Mangalanandan, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, during an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. The discussion focused on funeral rights in exceptional circumstances.
India also questioned the report’s treatment of religious discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic and its advocacy for the funeral rights of terrorists.
India Questions Report’s COVID-19 Assessment
Mangalanandan objected to what she described as an emphasis on discrimination and shortcomings in countries of the Global South, while similar tragedies in developed nations were not adequately addressed.
As per the report, she asked, all discrimination and wrong practices during COVID-19 supposedly took place only in the Global South. What benefit does a report derive by not mentioning similar tragic situations in the developed world.
She cautioned against using human suffering for political purposes and called for an impartial approach to examining violations of religious freedom.
Mangalanandan said, deriving political mileage out of people’s pain and loss should not be a topic that SRs should base their relevance on.
ALSO READ: Cabinet Secretariat Took No Action On Sandhu, Joshi Complaints Against Senior EC Official: RTI
India Raises Questions Over Funeral Rights Of Terrorists
The Indian diplomat also challenged the report’s position on funeral rights for terrorists, arguing that advocacy for those accused of carrying out attacks should not eclipse the suffering of victims and their families, as per reports.
She said that a terrorist not only kills innocent people, but damages the psyche of a nation. It’s a prize that the fervent advocacy for the rights of terrorists, who violate the most sacred right of humans, the right to life, does not similarly extend to the victims of terrorism.
ALSO READ: WHO Confirms First Human Case Of Animal-Linked Shamonda Virus In France; Patient Dies
Kargil War Brought Into Focus At UN
Mangalanandan also referred to the 1999 Kargil conflict to question Pakistan’s position on religious freedom and burial rights. She said Pakistan had refused to accept the bodies of some of its soldiers killed during the fighting.
She said that it was deeply ironic that a state that did not even accept the bodies of its own soldiers who were killed in combat in 1999 in Kargil, unabashedly speaks with fervour on faith, religious freedom and burials.
“Let me remind them, it was the Indian Army that buried a number of Pakistani soldiers with military honours and in accordance with Islamic rites,” she added.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: abplive.com
