NEW YORK: Pakistan on Tuesday told the United Nations (UN) that egregious violations of human rights in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) are a blot on the conscience of humanity, and demand immediate corrective action by the international community.
According to a press release received here on Tuesday from New York, speaking in the Third Committee of the General Assembly on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi said that India’s consistent denial of the Kashmiri right to self-determination is “a telling example” of Indian impunity.
She said the latest report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had “lifted the veil from decades of obfuscation by India of massive human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir”.
She said when the Kashmiri people demand the right of self-determination promised to them by several Security Council resolutions, they are met with repression and ruthless human rights abuses at the hands of Indian occupying forces.
Reiterating Pakistan’s abiding commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, she briefed the Committee on the steps taken by Pakistan to ensure these rights.
“Our constitution devotes a chapter to the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of all, without discrimination”, she said, while pointing out that Pakistan’s “executive, parliament, judiciary, civil society and media stand guard to protect these constitutional rights”.
She said the country’s new government headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan was committed to the consolidation of democratic institution, protection of human rights, rule of law and improving good governance.
“Our government has launched a new framework for social change, which focuses on education, health, women, youth and minorities”, she added. She also presented Pakistan’s point of view on the imperative of supporting an equitable, just and fair international order.
She stressed that just like civil and political rights, equal attention should be given to economic, social and cultural rights.
“We must take steps to promote the right to development and the environmental rights of people,” she added, underscoring that such rights “facilitate realisation of civil and political rights”.