Turkey brought up the Kashmir issue at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), days after India concluded its ‘Operation Dost‘, an initiative to help in rescue and relief operations after deadly earthquakes struck the country causing extensive damage.
The comments raised eyebrows in India, which went on to dismiss the statements made.
Exercising its right of reply at the High-Level Segment of 52nd session of the Human Rights Council, Seema Pujani, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, dismissed the reference to the statement made by Turkey and the OIC representative.
‘As regards the OIC statement, we reject the unwarranted references to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Turkey must to refrain from making unsolicited comments on our internal matters,’ Ms Pujani said in a statement on Friday.
India highlighted the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan, including the Ahmadiya community, Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs, as well as ‘disappearances’ in the Baloch region, as well as the scourge of state-sponsored terrorism.
‘State institutions officially reserve sanitation jobs for Christians. Underage girls from the community are converted to Islam abetted by a predatory state and an apathetic judiciary,’ the Indian statement added, highlighting the plight of minorities in the country.
Pujani said Pakistans ‘security agencies have nurtured and sheltered Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar for decades,’ adding, ‘Osama bin Laden lived next to Pakistans premier military academy.’