Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 17: The credibility of the United Nations, which was already known for its irresponsible behaviour and biased approach towards India, has been further eroded. Its first-ever report on human rights situation in J&K - authored by outgoing "quasi-Islamist" Zeid Raa'ad Al Hussein of Jordon, has naturally evoked a very strong reaction from India. Indeed, by tabling a fallacious and irresponsible document, the outgoing UN human rights chief has eroded further the credibility of the UN and hastened its demise.
The UN report is not just politically motivated, but it is also full of glaring inconsistencies. It, in addition, suffers from errors of omission and commission. For example, the report uses Pakistan's nomenclature by referring to Pakistan-occupied-Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) as "Azad Jammu and Kashmir" several times in the document. It again and again refers to the UN-designated terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Harakat Ul-Mujahideen as "armed groups" operating in the region.
There is no doubt that the approach adopted was deliberate. Not only does Ra'ad Al Hussein toe Pakistan's line, his fallacious and mischievous report furthers Islamabad's ploy of "using terrorism as an arm of its expansionist designs in Jammu & Kashmir". That the UN human rights chief should be party to such politicization of his office is just outrageous. The report also does a shoddy job of being factual.
Reacting to the UN report on human rights, Dilip Sinha, former ambassador to the UN in Geneva and vice-president of the Human Rights Council the other day said: "The report says that India is a state party to the international conventions against torture and enforced disappearance. A check on its own website would have confirmed to the office that India has not ratified either". Sinha has also pointed out that the report "dwells at length on the provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act but ignores the fact that most countries protect their armed forces with similar laws".
New Delhi has rightly rejected the report as "fallacious, tendentious and motivated" and has expressed concern that "individual prejudices are being allowed to undermine the credibility of a UN institution".
The report calls for establishing a commission of inquiry to conduct an "independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir" but has nothing to say about residents of Balochistan province in Pakistan.
Condemnation and rejection of this malicious report is not enough. Al Hussein's pro-Pakistan agenda needs to be exposed. His tacit credence to Pakistan's illegal, illegitimate and inequitable claims over Jammu & Kashmir must also be brought to light. The sooner it is done, the better. |
