Geneva – In a strong rebuttal to Pakistan, India exercised its “Right of Reply” at the United Nations and called out the country's “abysmal human rights records”. First Secretary Anupama Singh exercised the 'Right of Reply' at the High-Level Segment of the 55th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday. While addressing the matter, Singh stated that Pakistan has institutionalized the systemic persecution of its minorities and has a truly abysmal human rights record. Hence, the cash-strapped country does not hold any right to respond. The Indian diplomat's befitting response came after Pakistan condemned the abrogation of Article 370. 

Highlighting the political and sociological instabilities that have engulfed the cash-strapped nation, Singh pointed out that Pakistan “has no right” to comment on India's internal affairs. "With regard to the extensive references to India made by Pakistan, we note that it is deeply unfortunate for the Council's platform to have once again been misused to make patently false allegations against India," Singh said at the UNHRC session on Wednesday. "The entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is an integral and inalienable part of India, and the constitutional measures taken by the Government of India to ensure socio-economic development and good governance in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are matters internal to India. Pakistan has no locus standi to pronounce on matters that are internal to India," she added.

Singh shares the plight of minorities in Pakistan 

Emphasising Pakistan's “abysmal” human rights record, Singh shared the daily persecution which is faced by the minorities in Pakistan. “A country that has institutionalized the systemic persecution of its own minorities and has a truly abysmal human rights record, commenting on India, which is demonstrably making great strides in achieving economic progress and social justice, is not merely ironical but perverse,” the Indian official explained. She went on to recall the brutality faced by the Christian community in Jaranwala city, in August last year. "A glaring example was the large-scale brutality perpetrated against the minority Christian community in Jaranwala city, Pakistan in August 2023, when 19 churches were gutted and 89 Christian houses burnt down. Three, a country that hosts and even celebrates UNSC-sanctioned terrorists, commenting on India whose pluralistic ethos and democratic credentials are exemplars for the world, is a contrast for everyone to see," she averred. 

Singh also slammed the Pakistani ruling regime, reiterating that the country sponsors terrorism around the world. "We cannot pay any further attention to a country that speaks while being soaked in red, the red of the bloodshed from the terrorism it sponsors around the world; the red of its debt-riddled national balance sheets; and the red of the shame its own people feel for their government having failed to serve their actual interests," she concluded. Last year, India maintained that Pakistan needs to ensure an environment free of terror and hostilities if it wants to establish ties with India. Since then, the Islamic nation witnessed a major surge in terror attacks within its borders.