New Delhi: Castigating Pakistan and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for raising the Kashmir issue at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), India on Wednesday said the grouping has “helplessly allowed itself to be held hostage” by Islamabad.


Pawan Badhe, first secretary in India’s permanent mission in Geneva, said New Delhi does not need lessons from a “failed state” like Pakistan.


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“India, as not only the world’s largest democracy but a robustly functional and vibrant one, does not need lessons from a failed state like Pakistan which is the epicentre of terrorism and worst abuser of human rights,” he said, PTI reported.


Badhe said it has become a habit for Pakistan, which is the “epicentre of terrorism and worst abuser of human rights”, to misuse the platforms provided by the council to propagate its false and malicious propaganda against India.


“The council is aware of Pakistan’s attempts to divert the council’s attention from serious human rights violations being perpetrated by its government, including in the territories occupied by it,” Badhe said at the 48th session of the Human Rights Council.


Asserting Pakistan has failed to protect the rights of its minorities, including Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and Ahmadiyas, the Indian envoy said “thousands of women and girls from minority communities have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan and its occupied territories”.


“Pakistan has been engaged in systematic persecution, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination against its ethnic and religious minorities,” he added.


The Indian diplomat said the incidents of violence against minority communities, including attacks on their places of worship, their cultural heritage, as well as their private property have taken place with impunity in Pakistan.


Badhe said Pakistan is a country, which has been “globally recognised as a country openly supporting, training, financing and arming terrorists including UN proscribed terrorists as a matter of state policy”.


“The relevant multilateral institutions have been raising serious concerns on its failure to stop terror financing and lack of effective actions against terror entities,” he added.


Stating dissenting voices are muzzled daily in Pakistan with the government’s support, the Indian diplomat further said: “Enforced disappearances, extra judicial killings, murders and abductions have been used as a tool for subjugation and to muzzle any form of dissent or criticism.”


“The impunity with which such abuses have been carried out exposes the hollowness of Pakistan’s commitment to human rights,” he added.


Criticizing the OIC for raising the Kashmir issue at the council, Badhe said the group has no locus standi to comment on the country’s internal affairs.


“We once again regret and reject the reference made by the OIC to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral part of India,” he said.


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Badhe further said the “OIC has helplessly allowed itself to be held hostage by Pakistan, which holds the chairmanship of their Geneva Chapter, to sub serve its own agenda”.


“It’s for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interest to allow Pakistan to do so,” he added.