India says concepts of democracy alien to Pakistan, demands end to repression in occupied Kashmir

United Nations, Oct 25 (IANS) Concepts of democracy and constitution are alien to Pakistan that operates under the shadow of the military, and it can't understand how the ideals are integral to Kashmir, India has said, demanding that Islamabad end repression in areas it illegally occupies.

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir exercise their fundamental rights in accordance with India's time-tested democratic traditions and constitutional framework," India's Permanent Representative to the UN, P. Harish, said on Friday.

"We, of course, know that these are concepts alien to Pakistan."

"We call upon Pakistan to end the grave and ongoing human rights violations in the areas illegally occupied by it, where the population is in open revolt against Pakistan's military occupation, repression, brutality and illegal exploitation of resource," he added.

While the UN Security Council was meeting on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the UN with the theme, "Looking into the Future", Pakistan's Permanent Representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad was looking backwards to make a misleading statement reaching out to 1948.

He claimed that the Security Council resolution on a "plebiscite" had not been fulfilled.

However, Resolution 47 of April 1948 primarily demanded that Pakistan withdraw its armed forces, security personnel, and civilians from the areas it had invaded.

Kashmiris in the areas Pakistan continues to occupy illegally have risen in revolt, and it has brutally attacked them, killing at least 12 people last month in the latest crackdown.

Pakistan's claims of the Security Council calling for a plebiscite have been overtaken by history as it failed to heed the primary demand of the resolution that it withdraw from the occupied territories, and, in the meanwhile, Kashmiris not under its occupation have integrated themselves into India's democracy.

Harish highlighted Pakistan's occupation in contravention of the Security Council resolution and the human rights violations there, and criticised Islamabad for twisting it.

Earlier speaking in New Delhi at the release of a stamp commemorating the 80 years of the UN, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar raised another aspect of Pakistan, its role in international terrorism.

He criticised the failure of the UN to deal with terrorism, and without naming Pakistan, pointed out that despite protecting and promoting terrorism, it is on the Security Council.

"Few examples are more telling about the challenges facing the UN than its response to terrorism," Harish said.

"When a sitting Security Council member openly protects the very organisation that claims responsibility for the barbaric terror attack such as at Pahalgam, what does it do to the credibility of multilateralism?" he asked.

He said, "Similarly, if victims and perpetrators of terrorism are equated in the name of global strategy, how much more cynical can the world get. When self-proclaimed terrorists are shielded from the sanctioning process, what does it say for the sincerity of those involved?"

The terrorist organisation, The Resistance Front, that carried out the April Pahalgam attack killing 26 civilians, and its sponsor Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) are protected by Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the leader of LeT, who is under UN sanctions, operates freely in Pakistan.

--IANS

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