Pakistan has refused to congratulate India on its election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for a two-year term, beginning January  2021. Islamabad has raised questions on the credentials of India, calling it out as a country involved in gross human rights violations, and its disregard for UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute.

The development comes as part of Pakistan’s diplomatic campaign to discredit India being a member of the UNSC.

The United Nations General Assembly elected four countries – India, Norway, Mexico, and Ireland - on Wednesday as non-permanent members in the 15-member UCNC.

“We congratulate Ireland, Norway and Mexico on their election to the Council. The election of India, however, raises fundamental questions,” said Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui on Thursday.

She listed a number of reasons as to why Islamabad holds that New Delhi does not deserve to be a member of the UNSC, during her weekly media briefing.

According to the FO, the UN Charter has entrusted the Security Council with the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.

“The Charter stipulates that in discharging this responsibility, on behalf of the member states, the Council shall act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations. This is the touchstone for the Council’s credibility and legitimacy,” said Aisha.

However, she added, “India stands in flagrant violation of several resolutions of the Security Council that prescribed an UN-supervised plebiscite to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their fundamental right to self-determination”.

The FO spokesperson maintained that India’s gross and systematic violations of human rights in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) have been extensively documented by international human rights and humanitarian organisations, as well as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in successive reports.

India has incarcerated eight million Kashmiris, including top Kashmiri leadership, and has deployed 900,000 occupation troops in the disputed region, she pointed out.

“The people of IOJ&K have been suffering under an inhumane lockdown and military siege for over 10 months, following India’s illegal and unilateral actions on August 5, 2019, [wherein India revoked Kashmir’s special status].”

Aisha stressed that the entire region had been turned into a ‘large prison with unprecedented restrictions,’ which continue despite the on-going coronavirus pandemic.

She further highlighted that India had persistently defied requests to allow international monitors in IOJ&K.

“Indian actions aimed at illegally altering the demographic structure of IOJ&K are in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and international law, in particular the 4th Geneva Convention.”

As the world grapples with the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, India is busy, unabashedly, advancing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh- Bharatiya Janata Party (RSS-BJP) inspired extremist ‘Hindutva’ ideology, said the spokesperson.

India’s continued human rights violations against its minorities, Muslims in particular, such as the threat to render them stateless, the imposition of the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), initiation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process, targeted killings during repeated riots against Muslims – Mumbai in 1993, Gujarat in 2002, New Delhi in 2020, among others, – were all cited as examples, while the destruction of Babri Masjid was also brought up as an indication of rising Islamophobia in India.

The Indian State’s proclivity to violence is no secret, which is a direct consequence of its headlong militarisation and unbridled hegemonic ambitions, maintained the FO.

Aisha stressed that India has routinely used aggression in seeking to coerce its neighbours. It has employed terrorism, at one time or another, as state policy to destabilise every neighbouring state, she insisted, adding that the country has border disputes with all of its neighbours.

According to her, India’s so-called “5-S approach” in the UNSC was only a “smoke-screen to mask the arrogant, belligerent and confrontationist side of India”.

“Perhaps India would do well to consider another “S” i.e. Satya or truth: The truth of Indian oppression, aggression and occupation, which cannot be covered up by false espousal,” said the spokesperson.

The FO maintained that Indian actions in IOJ&K, and beyond, are a fundamental negation of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

Aisha reiterated that India is a consistent violator of the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir dispute. Rather than felicitated, a country with such credentials must be held accountable, she insisted.

“India must be asked to abide by the resolutions of the Security Council.  Pakistan will be working with rest of the members of the Security Council in advancing the objectives of international peace and security in South Asia and beyond,” said the FO spokesperson.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2245362/1-islamabad-refuses-congratulate-india-election-unsc/