India slammed a UN Human Rights Council report on Thursday, which roundly criticized its actions in Jammu & Kashmir. Despite the trenchant response, it showed diplomatic lapse by the Indian government that it failed to put forward India's views on a report that was essentially a one-man mission.
Releasing its first-ever report by the UN on the human rights situation in Kashmir on either side of the Line of Control (LoC), the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, "called on Indian security forces to exercise maximum restraint, and strictly abide by international standards governing the use of force when dealing with future protests, including ones that could well occur this coming weekend." "It is essential the Indian authorities take immediate and effective steps to avoid a repetition of the numerous examples of excessive use of force by security forces in Kashmir," Zeid said.
In an angry response which showed India had been caught off-guard, the MEA spokesperson described the report as "fallacious, tendentious and motivated", violating Indian sovereignty and "a selective compilation of largely unverified information ... overtly prejudiced and seeks to build a false narrative." The report comes at a time when a ceasefire prevails in J&K during the Ramzan period, and some people here see it as a pressure tactic against the Indian government.
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