India criticised Pakistan at the United Nations over its treatment of religious minorities, questioning Islamabad’s record on religious freedom and its remarks about India’s human rights situation.
Speaking on Thursday during an interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, India’s First Secretary to the UN, Bhavika Mangalanandan, said Pakistan had failed to protect its own minority communities.
“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 said.
Mangalanandan also said human suffering should not be used for political interests and called for a more impartial approach to reporting violations of religious freedom.
India Raises Concerns Over Forced Conversions
The remarks come amid concerns over alleged forced conversions, abductions and marriages involving girls from minority communities in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh province.
Experts cited by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have warned that coercion and inadequate legal safeguards can enable forced conversions through marriage, particularly among Hindu and Christian communities.
The experts have stressed that religious conversion must be voluntary and that child marriage undermines the ability to give meaningful consent under international law.
Kargil War and Funeral Rights
The Indian representative also questioned the report’s focus on the funeral rights of people accused of terrorism, arguing that the suffering of victims and their families should receive due attention.
She referred to the 1999 Kargil conflict, alleging that Pakistan had refused to accept the bodies of some of its soldiers killed during the fighting.
“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.
India Targets Pakistan Over Jammu and Kashmir
Mangalanandan also criticised Pakistan’s statements on Jammu and Kashmir, urging Islamabad to focus on developments in areas under its control.
“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.
