India slams UN report on J&K as continuation of ‘false narrative’

Team Udayavani, Jul 8, 2019, 4:29 PM IST

Geneva: The UN rights office on Monday said that India and Pakistan failed to improve the situation in Kashmir and have not taken any concrete steps to address the numerous concerns raised in an earlier report by the rights body.

Last year, the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released its first-ever report on Kashmir, documenting the wrongdoing by India and Pakistan and urging action to reduce long-standing tensions.

“A UN human rights report on the situation in Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from May 2018 to April 2019, says the number of civilian casualties reported over the 12-month period may be the highest in over a decade,” the new report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.

The rights office said, “neither India nor Pakistan have taken any concrete steps to address the numerous concerns raised.”

India on lodged a strong protest with the UN rights office over its report on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and asserted that it is merely a continuation of the earlier “false and motivated” narrative and ignores the core issue of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the updated report by office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is continuation of earlier false, motivated narrative on Jammu and Kashmir.

Hitting out at the report, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: “The update of the report of the OHCHR is merely a continuation of the earlier false and motivated narrative on the situation in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.”

The assertions in the report are in violation of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and ignore the core issue of cross-border terrorism, he said.

A situation created by years of cross-border terrorist attacks emanating from Pakistan has been analysed’ without any reference to its causality. The update seems to be a contrived effort to create an artificial parity between the world’s largest and the most vibrant democracy and a country that openly practices state-sponsored terrorism,” Kumar said.

“We have registered our strong protest regarding the update with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,” he said.