Pakistan and India faced off in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York over the state of human rights in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the Kashmiris\u2019 right to self-determination. Reaffirming Islamabad\u2019s firm support for the UN Human Rights Council, Pakistan urged the 47-member body to use its preventive mandate effectively to uphold international law and protect the rights of all occupied and oppressed peoples \u2014 including those in Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing the Assembly, Pakistan\u2019s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said the Geneva-based Council must maintain a balanced approach in addressing both long-standing and emerging human rights challenges. He welcomed the Council\u2019s attention to grave humanitarian situations, including the continued denial of the Palestinian people\u2019s right to self-determination and the suffering of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. \u201cLasting peace and respect for human rights cannot be achieved without addressing all cases of foreign occupation and denial of self-determination \u2014 including in Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir, where peoples continue to face oppression and dispossession,\u201d the envoy said. His remarks on the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir prompted a sharp response from India\u2019s representative, who repeated New Delhi\u2019s stance that Jammu and Kashmir was an \u201cintegral and inalienable\u201d part of India and accused Pakistan of distorting the principle of self-determination. Bhavika Managalanandan, a first secretary at India\u2019s mission to the UN, also cited alleged human rights concerns in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Exercising his right of reply, Pakistani diplomat Sarfaraz Ahmed Gohar dismissed India\u2019s statements as \u201cbaseless falsehoods,\u201d asserting that \u201cJammu and Kashmir is not, has never been, and will never be an \u2018integral\u2019 part of India.\u201d He reiterated that the region\u2019s final status must be determined by the Kashmiri people through a UN-supervised plebiscite \u2014 as mandated by several Security Council resolutions. \u201cThis disputed status of Kashmir is acknowledged by the UN and the international community,\u201d he said. \u201cWe reiterate that the Indian government must uphold its international human rights obligations towards the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and advise the Indian delegate to shun (his) tactics to deflect attention,\u201d the Pakistani delegate said, also highlighting the growing intolerance in India, with extremist Hindu groups calling for genocide against Muslims. In his comments on the Human Rights Council\u2019s report, Ambassador Asim Ahmad renewed Pakistan\u2019s commitment to a coherent and equitable global human rights system. He underscored the need for streamlining the proliferation of mandates, avoiding duplication, and strengthening coordination across mechanisms. \u201cThe focus must be on quality over quantity \u2014 ensuring each mandate adds value and contributes meaningfully to the promotion of all rights.\u201d The Council, the Pakistani envoy stressed, must remain a forum for dialogue and cooperation, not confrontation or politicization. \u201cSelectivity and double standards erode credibility and must be rejected.\u201d Adequate, predictable, and sustainable financing is also vital for the Council\u2019s credibility and functionality, he said. Pointing out that indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights are the UN\u2019s foundational principles, the Pakistani envoy urged the Council to ensure equal attention to the nexus between human rights, development, and sustainability to fulfill the promise of UN\u2019s 2030 anti-poverty agenda. As a re-elected member of the Human Rights Council for 2026\u20132028, Ambassador Asim Ahmad reaffirmed Pakistan\u2019s commitment to play a balanced, principled, and constructive role. \u201cWe will continue to promote consensus-building, amplify the voice of the Global South, and uphold promotion of all human rights.\u201d Other speakers also underscored that the Council serves as a \u201csanctuary of humanity\u201d that not only protects but also delivers on the promise of human rights as enshrined in the United Nations Charter. \u201cToday, both international law and human rights are under growing pressure,\u201d said Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly, noting that despite the vision of the UN\u2019s founders some countries brazenly dismiss the rule of law, while others question the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In their most extreme form in Afghanistan, the Taliban deny women and girls even the most basic human rights. \u201cThe frequency of such abuses is shocking,\u201d she said. \u201cWe cannot remain passive [\u2026] nor allow cynics to weaponize these failures to discredit the institutions that protect human dignity\u201d. The Human Rights Council, like the broader United Nations, \u201ccan only deliver within its means\u201d, the Assembly president stressed, calling on States to sustain their financial contributions. She urged them to use the UN80 reform initiative as a tool to make the Council more integrated, efficient and responsive in the pursuit of delivery. Citing the eightieth anniversary of the United Nations as both \u201ca moment for self-reflection and a call to action\u201d, Jurg Lauber, President of the Human Rights Council, warned that \u2014 amid persisting conflicts and the erosion of the rule of law \u2014 fulfilling the rights enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration can often feel like \u201can impossible task\u201d. Yet, he highlighted the remarkable progress achieved across the full spectrum of human rights. The Council expanded the scope of issues on its agenda, while continuing its focus on technical assistance and capacity-building in Cambodia, Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Haiti, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen. However, the Council\u2019s sessions took place amid the UN\u2019s liquidity crisis, he said, which affected all mandates and forced many to be delivered in a reduced form. \u201cThe current situation is not sustainable,\u201d he stressed, warning that without timely and adequate resources, fulfilling the Council\u2019s mandate will create protection gaps for victims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan and India…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4707,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeetnews.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}