'No standing to lecture India': New Delhi hits out at Pakistan over minority rights at UN

NEW DELHI: India slammed Pakistan at the United Nations, questioning Islamabad's record on religious freedom and the protection of minorities while pointing out its failure to safeguard vulnerable communities at home despite criticising New Delhi.Speaking during an interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief on funeral rights in exceptional circumstances on Thursday, India's first secretary to the UN, Bhavika Mangalanandan, said, "In Pakistan, the number of minorities is shrinking, and their rights are regularly abused. A state that cannot ensure the safety of its own minorities has no standing to lecture India."She also said human suffering should not be used to serve political interests and called for a more impartial approach to reporting violations of religious freedom.The remarks come against the backdrop of concerns over alleged forced conversions, abductions and marriages involving minority girls in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh.Separately, experts cited by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that coercion and weak legal safeguards were enabling forced conversions through marriage, particularly among Hindu and Christian communities.The experts emphasised that conversion must be voluntary and that child marriage undermines consent under international law.‘Rights of terrorists’ and their victimsThe Indian representative also questioned the report's emphasis on the funeral rights of terrorists, arguing that the suffering of victims and their families should not be overlooked.She then invoked the 1999 Kargil conflict to challenge Pakistan's position on burials and religious rights, saying Islamabad had refused to accept the bodies of some of its soldiers killed in combat.“It is deeply ironic that a state that did not even accept the bodies of its own soldiers who were killed in combat in 1999 in Kargil, unabashedly speaks with fervour on faith, religious freedom and burials,” Mangalanandan said.She added that the Indian Army had buried several Pakistani soldiers with military honours and in accordance with Islamic customs.“Let me remind them, it was the Indian Army that buried a number of Pakistani soldiers with military honours and in accordance with Islamic rites,” she said.Mangalanandan also hit out at Pakistan over its comments on Jammu and Kashmir, urging it to turn its attention to areas under its own occupation.“Pakistan's deep obsession with what is happening in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir should be actually directed at the developments that are underway in the parts of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation, such as Rawalakot,” she said.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.