India also rejected references in the statement made by OIC as as incorrect and unwarranted

Hitting out at Pakistan for raising Kashmir at the UN Human Rights Council, India on Wednesday asked the country to put its own house in order by dismantling terror infrastructure and stopping the persecution of minorities.

Reiterating that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were "an integral and inalienable part of India," India said the steps taken by the government to ensure good governance and development in these Union Territories were the country's internal matters.

India was exercising the Right of Reply in response to the statement by Pakistan's representative during the High-Level Segment of the Human Rights Council, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday.

India also rejected as "factually incorrect and unwarranted" the references to India in the statement made by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). "We regret that the OIC countries continue to allow Pakistan to misuse OIC platforms to indulge in anti-India propaganda," India said.

"As regards the remarks made by Turkey, we find them completely unacceptable. It is ironical for a country which has trampled upon its own civil society to pass unjustified comments on other’s internal matters," India added.

The Indian government was fully cognizant of its human rights obligations and committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of our people, India said in its Right of Reply.

The statement of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had outlined India’s perspective on human rights, both in relation to India and in the global context, the Indian representative said.

Pakistan home and patron to terrorist entities

"We are not surprised that Pakistan’s representative has chosen to misuse this august forum yet again. Pakistan’s continued misuse of various platforms to engage in baseless and malicious propaganda against India is not new," India's representative said, according to the statement.

Pakistan had been "the home and patron" to the largest number of internationally proscribed terrorist entities and individuals in the world; State-sponsored terrorism by Pakistan was a threat, not only to India but to other countries in the region and beyond, the council was informed.

India urged the Council to call upon Pakistan to take credible and irreversible steps to end state-sponsored terrorism and dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the territories under its control.

As many as 126 individuals and 24 entities, sanctioned under the UN Security Council 1267 and 1988 Committees’ Lists, were associated with Pakistan, the Indian representative said, according to the MEA.

The recent acquittal of Omar Saeed Sheikh, al-Qaeda terrorist and murderer of the American journalist Daniel Pearl, by the Pakistani Supreme Court was "a clear example of the Pakistani establishment’s nexus with such entities," India pointed out.

Describing Pakistan as a country with one of the world’s worst human rights records, the Indian representative said, "Pakistan would do well to put its own house in order, before venturing to point a finger at India".

Referring to the unabated violence, institutionalized discrimination and persecution faced by Pakistan’s minorities, including Christians, Sikhs and Hindus, India pointed out that there have been frequent attacks on the places of worship of minority communities, "a grave violation of their right to freedom of religion and belief".

The condition of women belonging to minority communities, notably Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, remains deplorable.
"An estimated 1,000 women from minority communities are subjected to abduction followed by forced conversion and forced marriage in Pakistan every year, according to a recent report published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan," said India's representative.

With most these women between 16 to 25 years old, the fact that young women, and not men or older women, were the main victims of forced conversions was a telling fact about Pakistani society. Shias, Hazaras and Ahmadiya communities have continued to face persecution, state-condoned violence and discrimination, India said in the course of its Right of Reply.

"It’s well known that Pakistan has been crushing dissent and engaging in political repression in Balochistan, and other regions, for decades. Enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture have been used as tools of coercion. Several Baloch human rights defenders have even met tragic death under mysterious circumstances, while in exile. Pashtuns and Sindhis have continued to struggle against the systemic oppression and discrimination," India pointed out.