Pakistan rejects Indian claims about its minorities in UNGA
Pakistan has rejected India’s “unwarranted assertions” made in the United Nations General Assembly about the recent mob attack at a Hindu temple in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A resolution was adopted in the UNGA condemning damages and destructions of religious sites. Initially proposed by Saudi Arabia, the resolution was supported by different Arab and Muslim countries including Pakistan while Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Venezuela also made contributions.
However, Indian representative termed the Pakistani support for the resolution as “ironic”, accusing the country of violation of minorities’ rights by mentioning the incident of burning down of a Hindu Shrine in KP. The Indian delegate claimed that the attack was carried out with the “explicit support” of law enforcement agencies.
Responding to Indian representative in General Assembly, Pakistani delegate Zulqarnain Chheena said India should set its own house in order rather than feigning concern for minority rights elsewhere.
“The clear difference between India and Pakistan with respect to minority rights can be gauged from the fact that the accused in the Karak incident were immediately arrested, orders were issued for repairing the temple, the highest level of judiciary took immediate notice, and the senior political leadership condemned the incident,” he continued.
“Whereas in India, blatant acts of discrimination against Muslims and other minorities take place with state complicity,” he further added.
While answering his Indian counterpart, Mr Chhenna also mentioned “the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Register of Citizens, the 2002 Gujarat massacre, the 2020 Delhi pogrom, the 1992 demolition of Babri Mosque and acquittal of the accused in 2020, blaming of Muslims for spreading coronavirus, raising the bogey of ‘love jihad’, cow vigilantism and terming West Bengal Muslims “termites”, extra-judicial killings of innocent Kashmiris and blatant attempts to turn Muslims into a minority in occupied Kashmir,” DAWN reported.
