India strongly criticized Pakistan in the United Nations over its treatment of religious minorities. India alleged that Pakistan has failed to protect the vulnerable sections of its country and is trying to lecture India on religious freedom and minority rights.
There was a special discussion in the United Nations on religious freedom and the right to burial. During the discussion, Bhavika Mangalanandan, First Secretary of India's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, raised the issue of religious discrimination during the Corona pandemic. He also raised questions on support for last rites rights of terrorists.
Mangalanandan said related reports raised the issue of alleged discrimination in developing countries during the pandemic; However, similar incidents have been completely ignored in developed countries. Indian representatives warned against politicizing human suffering. Incidents of alleged violations of religious freedom should be viewed without any discrimination. He clarified that it is not right to single out certain incidents for political purposes.
Questioning the report on the right to bury terrorists, the Indian diplomat said the rights of criminals should not be more important than the rights of victims of terrorist attacks. He said, “A terrorist not only kills innocent people but also harms the ideology of the country.”
Criticizing Pakistan's role during the Kargil war in 1999, Mangalanandan said that Pakistan's role on religious freedom and right to burial is very strange. Because Pakistan had misbehaved even with the dead bodies of its own soldiers. The Indian diplomat said, “It is very strange that a country which mistreated the bodies of its soldiers during the Kargil war is now shamelessly talking about the right to faith, religious freedom and burial.”
Mangalanandan advised Pakistan to focus on Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK) instead of criticizing India. Raising the issue of the status of minorities in Pakistan, he said, “The number of minorities is decreasing in Pakistan. A country which cannot protect its own minorities should not lecture India.” Incidents of kidnapping and forced conversion of Hindu girls occur frequently in Pakistan. Experts from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had also expressed concern over the incidents of forced marriage and religious conversion in Pakistan. Experts had also said that Hindu and Christian communities are most affected by these incidents.
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