India asks UN Human Rights Council to urge Pakistan to penalise people targeting its neighbours
New Delhi accused Islamabad of having a short-sighted approach to terrorism as a state policy.
India has called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to urge Pakistan to penalise "terrorists targeting its neighbours" from the country, ANI reported. New Delhi was using its Right of Reply at the 33rd session of the council in Geneva on Monday. India's response at the UNHCR came hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, had said any country not fighting against terrorism should be isolated.
India's Permanent Mission said, "We would like to reiterate that India is not the only victim of Pakistan's preaching, practicing, encouraging and nurturing terrorism. The deleterious impact of Pakistan's irresponsible and short-sighted approach of terrorism as state policy has started showing in other countries of South Asia and beyond."
The representative said India was still waiting for Islamabad to take action against the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attack and Pathankot attacks. The statement said, "The latest terrorist attack in Uri, where 18 Indian soldiers lost their lives and over 20 were injured, only underlines that the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan remains active." Asserting that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter, India said Pakistan's reliance on terror is so ingrained that it is using it against its own people in Balochistan, Sindh and other areas.
The UNHRC had asked for unfettered access to territory along both sides of the Line of Control to be able to undertake an objective study of the situation. Pakistan extended an invitation to the council, on the condition that an inspection is conducted in India simultaneously. India, however, declined the request for access, on the grounds that "Kashmir was a democratically-governed territory unlike Pakistan-occupied Kashmir".
Relations between Islamabad and New Delhi have worsened after the attack on an Army facility in Uri on September 18. India believes Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed orchestrated the Uri Army base attack. Pakistan has, however, refuted the accusation and asked for “actionable evidence” to prove it.