NEW DELHI: India sharply criticised Pakistan at the United Nations, calling out Islamabad for hypocrisy on human rights and its long-standing support for terrorism. Indian officials dismissed Pakistan’s remarks at both the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly as misleading and propagandist.At the 34th Meeting of the 60th Session of the UNHRC in Geneva on Wednesday, Indian diplomat Mohammed Hussain said, “India finds it deeply ironic that a country like Pakistan seeks to lecture others on human rights. Instead of spreading propaganda, Pakistan should confront the persecution of minorities on their own soil.”Hussain’s remarks followed the killing of at least 23 civilians in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after an airstrike by Islamabad. He highlighted New Delhi’s long-standing concerns about Islamabad’s treatment of minorities and its failure to address internal human rights challenges. Other international voices echoed these concerns. Geopolitical researcher Josh Bowes said, “The USCIRF Religious Freedom report for 2025 states that over 700 individuals were in prison for blasphemy charges, with a 300 per cent increase from the last year.” He also noted, “The Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Body documented 785 enforced disappearances and 121 killings in the first half of 2025 alone. The Pashtun national jirga said that in 2025, 4000 Pashtuns are still missing.”Human rights activist Arif Aajakia added that Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have experienced prolonged military operations, with frequent reports of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture, while families of missing persons stage protests.Earlier this week, India also rebutted Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s UN General Assembly remarks. Indian diplomat Petal Gahlot said, “This assembly witnessed absurd theatrics in the morning from the Prime Minister of Pakistan, who once again glorified terrorism that is so central to their foreign policy.”Also read – ‘No degree of drama can conceal facts’: India responds to Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif’s remarks at UN; slams ‘absurd theatrics’Gahlot further criticised Pakistan’s history of sheltering terrorists, saying, “A country long steeped in the tradition of deploying and exporting terrorism has no shame in advancing the most ludicrous narratives to that end. Let us recall that it sheltered Osama bin Laden for a decade, even while pretending to partner in the war against terrorism. Its ministers have just recently acknowledged that they have been operating terrorist camps for decades. It should come as no surprise that once again this duplicity continues, this time at the level of its Prime Minister.”Sharif had accused India of targeting civilians after the Pahalgam attack and repeated claims that Pakistan forces shot down Indian jets. Gahlot dismissed these allegations, stating, “No degree of drama and no level of lies can conceal the facts. This is the very same Pakistan which, at the UN Security Council on 25th April 2025, shielded the resistance front – a Pakistani-sponsored terror outfit — from the responsibility of carrying out the barbaric massacre of tourists in the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”
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