Pakistan has told the United Nations that India’s so-called democracy has degenerated into a spectacle of intolerance, where Islamophobia and hate have been institutionalised under the Hindutva ideology. Islamabad maintained that despite its propaganda campaigns, New Delhi cannot conceal its grave human rights violations and state terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
Responding firmly to the Indian delegate’s statement, Saima Saleem, a diplomat at Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said that minorities in India are being persecuted under the guise of Hindutva. “Muslims are lynched by mobs, mosques are razed to the ground, and churches are set ablaze this is the tragic reality of India’s so-called secular state,” she declared.
She told the international community that India has normalised genocide calls and hate speech, adding that “the flames of prejudice have burnt away the mask of secularism from India’s face, suffocating diversity and silencing dissent.”
Rejecting India’s claims over Jammu and Kashmir, Saima Saleem stressed that the territory “has never been and will never be India’s so-called integral part.” She reminded the UN that numerous Security Council resolutions affirm the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir and guarantee the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination. “Pakistan reiterates its unwavering moral, diplomatic, and political support for the Kashmiri people’s inalienable right to decide their own destiny,” she said.
Highlighting the grim reality in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the Pakistani diplomat said that the Kashmiri people continue to face state terrorism, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and extrajudicial killings. “If India has nothing to hide, it should open the occupied territory to the United Nations mechanisms, international human rights bodies, and global media,” she asserted, adding that “the Kashmiris’ call is not for privileges, but for freedom.”
Saima Saleem further said that India’s track record is one of aggression and intimidation. “It repeatedly violates Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, adopts a coercive posture towards smaller neighbours, spreads disinformation to destabilise the region, sponsors terrorism, and remains the single greatest threat to peace and stability in South Asia,” she maintained.
Drawing attention to India’s disregard for international law, she noted that at a time when South Asia is reeling from the devastating impacts of climate change, India’s move to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty constitutes not only a breach of international obligations but also a grave affront to human dignity, the rights of the Pakistani people, and the principles of good neighbourliness.
Concluding her statement, Saima Saleem declared that peace in South Asia will remain a distant dream as long as India continues its occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and pursues its policies of aggression and state terrorism. “Pakistan stands resolutely for peace, justice, and the inalienable rights of the oppressed Kashmiri people. No amount of propaganda can erase the truth or suppress the will of a people determined to be free,” she affirmed.
