That Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India is a time-tested fact but Pakistan has always chosen to ignore this. Until Tuesday at Geneva. Parroting his country’s false narrative on the Indian Union Territory, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi referred to J&K as an Indian state.
Speaking to members of the press on the sidelines of 42nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Qureshi feigned anger as he accused India of violating human rights of people in Jammu and Kashmir. Facts have a way of rearing their head and Qureshi ended up referring to Jammu and Kashmir as an Indian state. “India should allow international organisations, NGOs, civil society organisations to go into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, before going on to repeat futile lies his country has been narrating.
While there is no revelation in how Qureshi referred to Jammu and Kashmir since it has always been an integral part of India, Pakistan has always referred to it as a ‘disputed territory.’ It has also, therefore, found it best to wage a proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir using terrorists.
At the UNHRC, Pakistan tried – in vain – to create a false impression of Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of Article 370 being revoked here. Qureshi said that ‘India had turned Jammu and Kashmir into the largest prison on Earth’, an untrue allegation stemming from Pakistan’s own insecurities at having failed to get a response from the world over Article 370 revocation in Jammu and Kashmir. The world has united in recognising that this was India’s internal matter.
Interestingly and ironically, while Pakistan harped on Kashmir falsehoods inside the UNHRC, scores of Sindhis and Balochis protested against the Pakistani government for violating human rights in Sindh and Balochistan.
