India has neither accepted nor implemented over a dozen decisions of UNSC on J&K: Muhammad Omar

 Says people of South Asia can no longer be held hostage to India’s machinations that have impeded peace & development in region

Says contrary to its self-serving mantra, India is not a victim but the mother ship of terrorism in South Asia

GENEVA, Jan 27 (SABAH): Muhammad Omar, First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nation in Geneva has said that It is India which has always opposed formalization of moratorium on nuclear tests in South Asia. He said that it is also India which pioneered nuclear proliferation in South Asia. It is India which dealt a death blow to non-proliferation norms by conducting its first nuclear test in 1974, followed by additional nuclear tests in 1998. He said that India has neither accepted nor implemented over a dozen decisions of the UN Security Council on Jammu and Kashmir. He said that Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally recognized disputed territory and it never was and will never be ‘integral part of India’. He said that contrary to its self-serving mantra, India is not a victim but the mother ship of terrorism in South Asia. The people of South Asia can no longer be held hostage to India’s machinations that have impeded peace and development in the region.

This was stated by Muhammad Omar while responding the claims of the Indian ambassador during the Plenary Meeting of Conference on Disarmament on Thursday.

Muhammad Omar said that he has taken the floor to respond to the insinuations and claims made by the Indian Ambassador in the plenary meeting of 25 January 2022.

“My delegation categorically rejects these insinuations. They have no factual basis. In fact, they are part of the disinformation campaign which India has earned a repute to excel in” he said.

“Let me first respond to some of the self-serving claims made by the Indian Ambassador and I quote “bilateral and regional security issues have no place in the CD’s considerations”, end quote. This assertion at best betrays ignorance and at worst a deliberate misrepresentation” He said.

Muhammad Omar said that the international bodies mandated to deliberate or negotiate security and disarmament issues do not do so in a vacuum. Threat perceptions, doctrines and negotiating postures of states are not solely predicated on global developments, either, he said.

He said that if the logic of Indian Ambassador was to be taken at face value, then this body would only comprise of states which possessed arms and delivery systems with global reach.

“I would like to recommend the Indian delegation to carefully read the SSOD-I Final Document, UNDC’s 1993 guidelines entitled “Guidelines and recommendations for regional approaches to disarmament within the context of global security”, and several consensus UNGA resolutions, which have time and again affirmed the organic links between global, regional and sub-regional dimensions of security” he said.

He said that obviously, what the Indian delegation would not want this body to scrutinize is the overwhelming deployment of India’s conventional and non-conventional capabilities against Pakistan. It is clear also the Indian delegation would also not like this body to take note of the irresponsible statements made by the Indian leaders involving the use of these capabilities against Pakistan to drum up electoral support.

He said that one only wonders whether the Indian delegation has chosen to renounce adherence to these universal and fundamental principles of security and disarmament or is it doing what it has always excelled in i.e. the futile art of deflection!

Muhammad Omar said that as for India’s dubious claim about its disarmament contributions and credentials, I would like to cite only three examples that belie such assertion. First, it is a matter of this body’s record that India sought to block adoption of the CTBT text in the CD. It is also a matter of record that India has never supported either this treaty or the resolution on it adopted since 1996 in the UN General Assembly. It is India which has always opposed formalization of moratorium on nuclear tests in South Asia. He said that it is also India which pioneered nuclear proliferation in South Asia. It is India which dealt a death blow to non-proliferation norms by conducting its first nuclear test in 1974, followed by additional nuclear tests in 1998.

He said that it is also a fact that despite its ritualistic support to the so-called FMCT, India has neither declared a moratorium on fissile material production nor ceased its production. In fact, it continues to exponentially expand production by building new fast breeder reactors. It has also amassed tonnes of fissile material stocks in the so called “strategic reserves”. He said that India remains the leading opponent of proposals to incorporate existing stockpiles in the scope of a treaty on fissile materials. How does opposition to the inclusion of fissile material stocks square with India’s claimed support for nuclear disarmament?

He said that it is also a matter of record that India blocked Belgian proposal of last year in this body on a decision to adopt its Programme of Work. It is also a matter of record that India blocked adoption of report of Subsidiary Body 4 in 2018.

“My delegation has previously drawn attention to the myth of India’s so-called “impeccable non-proliferation record”. It is a recorded fact that India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974 by diverting nuclear material from CIRUS reactor, in clear violation of its solemn safeguards commitments to the suppliers of that reactor not to do so” he said.

He said that it is also a fact that the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which ironically awarded a generous waiver to India in 2008, was established in direct response to Indian nuclear test of 1974. The very CIRUS reactor continued to operate and churn weapons-grade plutonium till 2010.

He said that unlike India, Pakistan has not violated any of its international commitments or safeguards obligations in the development of its civil and military nuclear programme to this day.

He said that several incidents of proliferation-related activities by the Indian government and its nationals are also a matter of record. Before the politically motivated but legally questionable mainstreaming of India in the non-proliferation regime from 2006 onwards through the controversial “civilian nuclear deals”, several Indian entities and individuals were on sanction lists for pursuing clandestine proliferation activities. He said that in sum, this is the delusional nature of India’s grandstanding on its “impeccable” non-proliferation record.

Muhammad Omar said that India is also one of the pioneers when it comes to willful non-compliance with international rule of law. For three quarters of a century, India has violated the UN Charter, fundamental principles, norms and rules of international law and responsible state behaviour.

“Let me illustrate. Article 25 of the UN Charter clearly stipulates and I quote “the Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council” unquote” he said.

He said that despite this clear provision of international law, India has neither accepted nor implemented over a dozen decisions of the UN Security Council on Jammu and Kashmir. For 75 years, India remains an illegal occupier of Jammu and Kashmir. For 75 years, India has suppressed the inalienable right of Kashmiri people to self-determination, a right enshrined in the UN Charter and endorsed by scores of international covenants and UN General Assembly resolutions. “And yet with such atrocious record of defying international legality, India harbours ambitions of becoming a permanent member of UN Security Council. There can be no place in a rules-based international order for such an egregious violator to join this august body as its permanent member” he said.

“Let us be clear. Under international law, India is an illegal occupier of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally recognized disputed territory. It never was and will never be ‘integral part of India’. Under UN Security Council resolutions, the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir can only be determined through an impartial plebiscite under UN auspices. Hence, the Indian occupation since 1947 and its actions of 5 August 2019 remain unlawful. That is the reason Jammu & Kashmir is not India’s internal affair. That is why Jammu and Kashmir remains on the Security Council’s agenda. That is why the Security Council has met thrice since August 2019 to consider the dire situation in the occupied territory, and that is why the UN position on Jammu & Kashmir has not changed, as affirmed by UN Secretary General on 8 August 2019.

Muhammad Omar said that India’s narrative on terrorism is both fallacious and self-serving. Like nuclear proliferation, India is also a pioneer of state terrorism in South Asia. The foremost victims of this state directed terrorism are the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian motive in peddling the mantra of terrorism is clear. India has unleashed one of the world’s most brutal violence against Kashmiri people. Their resistance to its occupation is framed by India as terrorism because India wants to delegitimize the Kashmiri right to self-determination and deflect international attention from its human rights crimes in the colonized territory.

He said that contrary to its self-serving mantra, India is not a victim but the mother ship of terrorism in South Asia. Hardly any country in the region has escaped India’s financing, sponsoring and harboring of terrorism. India has nourished UN-designated terrorist organizations such as TTP and JuA against Pakistan.

He said that the poster child of India’s state terrorism is its Navy Commander, Kulbushan Jadhav, who publicly confessed to aiding, abetting and committing acts of terrorism inside Pakistan.

“Let me now say a few words on the track record of the worlds’ largest democracy on human rights. The global independent observers and institutions have documented India’s grave and systematic abuses of human rights in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that these violations are documented in two reports by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 21018 & 2019.

He said that in August 2019, UN independent human rights experts publicly condemned India’s military and digital siege of the occupied territory as a ‘form of collective punishment’. He said that in August 2020, these independent experts described the situation in Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir in ‘free fall’ due to India’s heightened assault on Kashmiri rights.

He said that in February 2021, the UN Special Rapporteurs once again issued a public warning about the devastating and long-term human rights impacts of India’s demographic engineering in the disputed territory. At each session of the UN Human Rights Council since 5th August 2019, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has raised grave concerns over India’s arbitrary curbs on Kashmiris’ democratic rights, summary executions, illegal detentions, and reprisal attacks against local civil society actors.

He said that instead of responding to these credible voices of concerns, India has chosen to deny access to the UN human rights machinery to the occupied territory, browbeat the High Commissioner for Human Rights during formal meetings, shuttered international NGOs reporting on its abuses in IOJK, and kill and Kashmiri journalists and members of civil society.

“On top of it, India has launched the world’s largest disinformation campaign against my country as part of its signature move to deflect global attention from its criminal human rights record” he said.

He said that the two investigative reports by the independent EU Disinfo Lab have documented in detail the modus operandi of this state-sponsored campaign by the world’s so-called largest democracy. “The not so distant Pegasus saga is yet another exposé of India’s signature playbook to silence its opponents” he said.

He said that the association of India’s ruling BJP with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the RSS, is no secret. They pride themselves in drawing ideological inspiration from the Nazi Party. The founder of RSS is revered in today’s India. India’s policies of Hindutva and Hindu Reshtra are anchored in RSS philosophy of supremacy and exclusion.

“It is no wonder then to see the heightened intensity of state-sanctioned hostility, discrimination and violence against Indian minorities” Muhammad Omar said.

He said that according to independent observers, more than 90% of religiously motivated hate crimes in the last decade have occurred since the poster-child of RSS-Prime Minister Modi- came to power.

He said that will the Indian delegation deny the fact that its leaders have openly de-humanized Indian Muslims by calling them ‘termites’ and ‘unequal citizens’, and publically called for rape of Muslim women and girls?

He said that will Indian delegation also deny the fact that its recent discriminatory citizenship and anti-conversion laws have been called out by independent observes?

He said that can Indian delegation deny the fact that in this so-called largest democracy, perpetrators of anti-Muslim violence and pogroms have assumed high offices of Prime Minister, Home Minister and Chief Minister?

“Lastly I will again ask the Indian delegation a simple question. Why have Indian leaders not yet or will they ever denounce the public call for genocide against Muslims that was issued on 17 Dec 2021 in Haridwar, in northern Uttarakhand province. Silence will reinforce complicity. The world awaits a public condemnation by India’s leadership of this shameful act” he said.

“Finally, the Indian delegation is well advised to introspect, set its own house in order, comply with international law and reverse its dangerous policies that imperil regional and global peace and security. The Indian state policy to first label thousands of freedom pursuing Kashmiri people as “terrorists” and then killing and maiming them and suppressing their human rights with unparallel impunity, must end. The people of South Asia can no longer be held hostage to India’s machinations that have impeded peace and development in the region” he said.