ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva has thwarted an attempt by India to mislead the UN Human Rights Council regarding the Pahalgam attack in India-held Kashmir.

Exercising the right of reply during the ‘Interactive Dialogue on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Annual Report’ in Geneva on Wednesday, Pakistan’s representative, Muneeb Ahmed, rejected India’s allegations, stressing that New Delhi had blamed Pakistan without evidence. He said India had dismissed calls for an independent and impartial investigation and ignored international appeals for restraint.

The dialogue formed part of the ongoing session of the UN Human Rights Council.

“Even before its own investigation authorities put out a public call for evidence, India intensified its oppression against the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Even worse, India carried out deliberate and unjustifiable military strikes on civilians, residences, and places of worship in Pakistan,” Mr Ahmed said.

New Delhi following ‘beaten path’ of invoking terrorism for geopolitical motives, says envoy

He noted that India’s reservations to common Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) regarding the right to self-determination served as a pretext for denying this fundamental right.

It underlies the Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir as well as numerous other territories and is reflected in the large number of movements against New Delhi’s yoke, he said, adding, “But India is following a beaten path of invoking terrorism for geopolitical motives.”

Resolving the Jammu and Kashmir remains key to lasting peace and prosperity in South Asia and is the best safeguard against future human rights abuses, he said.

“The territory of Jammu and Kashmir is not, has never been and will never be a so-called integral part of India. It remains an internationally recognised disputed territory until the people of Jammu and Kashmir exercise their inalienable right to self-determination in accordance with numerous UN Security Council resolutions,” Mr Ahmed said.

Pakistan is ready to discuss Indian support for the menace of terrorism along Pakistan’s western borders, and unlike India, “we have the evidence to engage in a substantive conversation”, he added.

“Rather than blaming Pakistan or Muslims, we urge India to revisit its Hindutva supremacist pursuit of hegemony, uphold the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination, and, importantly, behave like a normal country at peace with itself and its neighbours,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2025