India on Saturday hit back at Pakistan at the United Nations, accusing Islamabad of attempting to malign New Delhi to deflect attention from its domestic crises and asserting that the Pakistani military remains the country's “real rulers”.
Speaking during an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues at the UN General Assembly's Third Committee, First Secretary at India's Permanent Mission to the UN, Raghoo Puri, accused Pakistan of trying to paint a “propagandist picture” of India while ignoring its own record on human rights and minority rights.
“What better way to deflect attention from a flailing economy, general lawlessness, and rampant human rights violations from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Balochistan,” Puri said.
He said the Pakistani military continued to wield decisive power over the country's political leadership, describing the government as a “Form 47 government” that “dare not override instructions from the Pakistani military”.
The term “Form 47” refers to the official consolidated results of Pakistan's 2024 general elections, which were marred by allegations of rigging and electoral irregularities.
Questioning Pakistan's record on minority rights, Puri said the country's minority populations had shrunk dramatically since independence, despite Islamabad's attempts to raise concerns about India at international forums.
Rejecting Pakistan's claims on Jammu and Kashmir, he reiterated that the region was an integral and inalienable part of India. The only outstanding issue, he said, was the vacation of territories under Pakistan's illegal occupation.
“We would urge the Pakistani delegate to heed the counsel of her own countrymen, look inwards and focus on the well-being of her own citizens first,” Puri said.
Turning to the Special Rapporteur's report on minority issues, Puri said India agreed that protecting and promoting minority rights was primarily the sovereign responsibility of individual countries.
“Following the principle of sovereign equality, issues internal to a country should be handled as per the rules and regulations that govern it. We stand ready to have an open and candid conversation in multilateral forums to address these complex challenges,” he said.
Describing India as the world's most multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multilingual society, Puri said diversity had remained central to the country's civilisational ethos.
“We are proud of it,” he said, pointing to constitutional safeguards for religious and linguistic minorities.
He added that members of minority communities had made significant contributions to India's economic, social and cultural development, including in the highest constitutional offices, government institutions, the armed forces, law enforcement agencies, the film industry and the corporate sector.
Contrasting this with Pakistan's record, Puri said he was “hard-pressed” to find comparable examples from the neighbouring country.
(With inputs from PTI)