Islamabad disappointed to see real democracy in Kashmir: India

United Nations, Oct 16

In a stinging retort to Pakistan, India has said that because of its commitment to sham elections, Islamabad is disappointed that the people of Kashmir freely exercised their right to vote and elected their leaders.

“Sham elections, incarceration of Opposition leaders, and suppression of political voices are what Pakistan is familiar with. It is natural that Pakistan must be disappointed to see real democracy at work,” Eldos Mathew Punnoose, a counsellor at India’s United Nations Mission said on Monday.

“Given their tainted democratic record, Pakistan considers real democratic exercises as a sham, as reflected in their statement,” he said responding to remarks by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Munir Akram at the General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonisation Committee.

“It was only last week that election results were announced in Jammu and Kashmir. Millions of voters in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have spoken,” Punoose said.

“They exercised their right to vote and have chosen their leadership according to the Constitutional framework and universal adult suffrage,” he said. “Clearly, these terms must be alien to Pakistan.”

In the first elections held after the 2019 rescindment of Kashmir’s special status, more than six million voters turned up to cast their ballots in Kashmir and elected the opposition coalition of the National Conference and the Congress Party, and dealt a defeat to the Bharatiya Janata Party in power at the Centre.

Earlier speaking at the debate on decolonisation at the panel, which is also known as the Fourth Committee, Akram called the election a “sham”.

Punoose told Pakistan to instead “stop the grave and ongoing human rights violations in Pakistan occupied Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh (PoJKL).”

“The world is witness to the divisive activities that Pakistan tries to undertake day in and day out,” he said.

Punoose said, “It is ironic that a country which is infamous across the globe for state-sponsored terrorism and transnational crimes cast aspersions on the world’s largest democracy.”

“It has been Pakistan’s consistent state policy to employ cross-border terrorism as a weapon against its neighbours,” he said.

“The list of attacks orchestrated by Pakistan is indeed long. In India, they have targeted our Parliament, market places and pilgrimage routes, among several others. Normal Indian citizens have been victims of such dastardly and inhumane acts by Pakistan,” he said.

“India symbolises pluralism, diversity, and democracy. In contrast, Pakistan reminds the world of terrorism, parochialism, and persecution,” Punoose said.

“Religious and ethnic minorities and their places of worship are targeted and vandalised on a regular basis,” he said.

Therefore, “it is important for Pakistan to first look inwards and set own house in order instead of meddling in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries,” he added.

When Pakistan held its national elections in February, opposition leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan and several of his supporters were in prison and prevented from contesting.

Restrictions on the opposition hampered their ability to campaign.

The elections held under the control of the military were marred by violence and the cell phone services were cut to prevent voter mobilisation.