New Delhi: Congress senior leader Manish Tewari on Friday targeted the Centre over India abstaining from voting at the United Nations Human Rights Council on a draft resolution for holding debate on the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang region. Taking to Twitter, the former Union minister questioned India’s abstention at the session. He also cornered the Central government over not holding Parliamentary debate on ‘Chinese incursion’.
“Why so much diffidence on China,” he wrote.
“The Government of India will not agree to a Parliamentary debate on Chinese incursions. India will abstain at UNHRC on a resolution for debate on human rights in Xinjiang. The Ministry of External Affairs will not accord Political clearance to Parliamentarians to visit Taiwan,” the Congress leader said.
Shiv Sena MP in Rajya Sabha, Priyanka Chaturvedi also condemned India’s abstention calling it a “journey from red eye to blind eye”.
The draft resolution on “holding a debate on the situation of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China” was rejected in the 47-member Council after 17 members voted in favour, 19 members voted against, including China, and 11 abstentions, including India, Brazil, Mexico and Ukraine.
The draft resolution was presented by a core group consisting of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, UK and USA, and co-sponsored by a range of states, including Turkey.
Serious allegations of human rights violations against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim communities in China were brought to the attention of the UN Human Rights Office and UN human rights mechanisms since late 2017.