New York: India has slammed the UN human rights chief’s comments on Kashmir and Manipur and expressed concerns over the update’s generalized remarks for “loose terminology” and “cherry picking” of situations.
Terming them “unfounded and baseless”, Arindam Bagchi, India's permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, said: “As India was mentioned by name, let me begin by emphasizing that the world’s largest democracy continues to be a healthy, vibrant and pluralistic society. Unfounded and baseless comments in the update contrast jarringly with ground realities.”
India’s strong reaction came after UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk mentioned India and referred to the situation in Manipur and Kashmir in his global update to the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Emphasizing that India is the world’s largest democracy with a vibrant, pluralistic society, Bagchi noted that the concerns raised in the UN update were disconnected from the realities on the ground in India. He stated that the people of India have “repeatedly proven wrong such misplaced concerns about us” and “we would urge a better understanding of India and our civilisational ethos of diversity and openness, which continue to define our robust and often cacophonous civic space.”
