India categorically dismissed Switzerland's comments on minority rights during the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), describing them as "surprising, shallow, and ill-informed."
The exchange took place on Wednesday during the General Debate on the oral update by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights during the Council's 60th Session in Geneva.
In the speech, Switzerland also called on India to provide more protection for minorities and highlighted the responsibility to secure "the rights to the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media." The remarks took on added importance since Switzerland is now holding the UNHRC presidency.
On behalf of New Delhi, Kshitij Tyagi, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, rejected the remarks.
"We would also like to respond to the surprising, shallow, and ill-informed remarks made by Switzerland, a close friend and partner," Mr Tyagi said. "As it holds the UNHRC presidency, it is all the more important for Switzerland to avoid wasting the council's time with narratives that are blatantly false and do not do justice to the reality of India. Instead, it should focus on its own challenges such as racism, systematic discrimination and xenophobia. As the world's largest, most diverse and vibrant democracy, with a civilizational embrace of pluralism, India remains ready to help Switzerland address these concerns."
India also exercised its Right of Reply against Pakistan on the same day, issuing a strong counter to Islamabad's comments.
Tyagi alleged that Pakistan keeps using the UN platform for political propaganda repeatedly and reiterated that the country is still sponsoring cross-border terrorism.
"We are compelled, once again, to address provocations from a country whose own leadership recently likened it to a 'dump truck', perhaps an inadvertently apt metaphor for a state that continues to deposit recycled falsehoods and stale propaganda before this distinguished Council," Mr Tyagi told the chamber.
He emphasized Pakistan's history of hosting terror organizations, referencing attacks in Pulwama, Uri, Pathankot, Mumbai, and the Pahalgam attack last year, which, he asserted, transformed "a meadow of joy into a killing field.
Remembering international experiences with terrorism, Tyagi mentioned the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, reminding the Council that Osama bin Laden had been resident in Pakistan before he was eliminated in a US Navy SEAL raid in Abbottabad.
"We need no lessons from a terror sponsor; no sermons from a persecutor of minorities; no advice from a state that has squandered its own credibility," Mr Tyagi said.
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