India rejects UN report on rights violation in J&K, registers protest

New Delhi: India on Thursday outright rejected a UN report alleging human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and registered strong protest with the global body saying the very credibility of the UN institute is at stake by such reports.
“Our protest and views in the matter have been conveyed unequivocally to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. We are deeply concerned that individual prejudices are being allowed to undermine the credibility of a UN institution,” an MEA spokesperson said in response to a question here.
Stating that the report was “fallacious and motivated”, the MEA spokesman said: “India rejects the report. It is fallacious, tendentious and motivated. We question the intent in bringing out such a report”.
In a strongly worded reactions, the MEA spokesman said the report is “motivated” and it “deliberately ignores that fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution to every Indian citizen, including in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, are protected also by an independent judiciary, human rights commissions, free and vibrant media and an active civil society”.
The UN report mentions alleged human rights violations in both “Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir” and even sought international inquiry.
“Such malicious reports cannot undermine the will of the people and the Government of India to take all measures necessary to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country from cross border terrorism,” the spokesperson said.
The MEA official further said, it is “disturbing” that those behind this report have chosen to describe internationally designated and UN-proscribed terrorist entities as “armed groups” and terrorists as “leaders”. “This undermines the UN-led consensus on zero tolerance to terrorism”.
That way, MEA spokesperson said: “The report violates India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India”.
“Pakistan is in illegal and forcible occupation of a part of the Indian state through aggression. We have repeatedly called upon Pakistan to vacate the occupied territories,” the spokesperson said adding the “incorrect description” of Indian territory in the report is mischievous, misleading and unacceptable.
“There are no entities such as “Azad Jammu and Kashmir” and “Gilgit-Baltistan,” India has asserted.
“Terrorism is the most egregious violation of human rights. Yet the authors have conveniently ignored the pattern of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan and territories under its illegal control,” the spokesperson said. He further said: “Cross-border terror and incitement is aimed at suppressing the will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, disrupting its political and social fabric and undermining India’s integrity”.
“India rejects the report. It is fallacious, tendentious and motivated. We question the intent in bringing out such a report,” MEA spokesperson said. The spokesperson also said that the report was only a “selective compilation of largely unverified information”.
“It is overtly prejudiced and seeks to build a false narrative,” the MEA spokesman asserted.
The 49-page report titled “Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Kashmir: Developments in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir from June 2016 to April 2018, and General Human Rights Concerns in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan” was submitted by the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights before UN’s Human Rights council.
UN High Commission for Human Rights is headed by Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, a former Jordan Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Mr Hussein also served as Jordan’s Ambassador to the United States.