‘Distorted, misleading’: Indian embassy comments on Pakistani ambassador’s article

The embassy of India in Manila firmly rejects the baseless and misleading assertions made by Pakistan regarding the Indian Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh. The constitutional changes undertaken on Aug. 5, 2019, through the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, were a sovereign and democratic decision taken by the parliament of India through established constitutional processes. By doing so, India has extended the full scope of India’s Constitution to the region, ensuring equal rights, protections and opportunities for all citizens. It also ended discriminatory provisions affecting sections of society, including women and marginalized communities, while enabling greater socioeconomic development and integration. Since 2019, J&K and Ladakh have benefited from the extension of over 890 central laws, developmental reforms and strengthened local governance. The peaceful conduct of panchayat and district development council elections, with significant participation from women and diverse communities, reflects the deepening of grassroots democracy. Pakistan continues to refer to outdated and misinterpreted UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions that have long been overtaken by the Simla Agreement (1972) and Lahore Declaration (1999), both bilateral agreements that clearly state that all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan shall be resolved bilaterally and peacefully, without the involvement of third parties. Repeated references to UNSC resolutions, which Pakistan itself has violated by failing to withdraw its forces from the region as per the original terms, are disingenuous and selective. The assertion that India is altering J&K’s demography is a baseless fabrication. The legal and administrative reforms simply granted equal rights to all residents, including thousands of minority refugees who had been denied basic citizenship and property rights for 70 years. These reforms promote inclusion, not exclusion. Unlike Pakistan, which has systematically changed demographics in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan through settlement policies and the denial of land and voting rights to locals, India has upheld the rule of law and pluralism in every part of the country, including the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan’s persistent propaganda against India is a means of diverting attention from its own internal failures. The recent violence and unrest in PoJK have exposed growing public discontent and concerns over governance, accountability and the treatment of local populations. These developments come amid long-standing concerns regarding minority rights, restrictions on press freedom, economic instability and the continued presence of extremist networks. Instead of making baseless allegations against India, Pakistan should address its own domestic challenges and work toward ensuring peace, stability and the dignity of all its citizens. It is ironic that Pakistan casts aspersions on a pluralistic and secular country like India. Unlike India and the Philippines, a person from a religious minority community in Pakistan is constitutionally barred from occupying the highest office in Pakistan. The horrendous track record of Pakistan in its treatment of minorities is evidenced in the persecution of religious minorities like the Hindu, Sikh, Christian and Ahmadiyya communities. The exploitation of these communities flows from the constitutional and legal instruments, including the notorious blasphemy laws, used as a weapon against minority communities and to incite mob violence. Forced conversions, forced marriages, extrajudicial killings, abduction, discrimination based on faith, with no available remedy is a hallmark of Pakistan. For decades, Pakistan, through its policy of cross-border terrorism, has held hostage the peace, prosperity and development in the region. The recent Pahalgam terror attack by The Resistance Front, a proxy of the UN-proscribed, Pakistan-based terror entity Lashkar-e-Tayyiba once again exposed the nefarious designs that Pakistan harbors against India. This was an assault on the economic development and prosperity of Jammu and Kashmir. While the global community is making all efforts to combat terrorism, Pakistan continues to host and shelter the highest numbers of terrorists and terror groups proscribed by the UN and other countries, including the notorious Lashkar- e-Tayyiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad. Even the Southeast Asian region is not immune to the imprints of Pakistan’s global terror linkages. The mastermind of the Bali bombings of 2002 was unsurprisingly traced to Pakistan. Pakistan’s leaders continue to brazenly admit on record their long track record of sheltering terrorists and using them for political objectives. The masterminds of the Mumbai terror attack of 2008 also continue to be harbored by Pakistan. “Nuclear saber-rattling is Pakistan’s stock-in-trade.” The international community has to draw its own conclusions on the irresponsibility inherent in these threats that are tantamount to nuclear blackmail. This also amplifies the international community’s long-standing concerns about the integrity of Pakistan’s nuclear command and control, especially given the military’s close ties with terrorist groups. The Indus Waters Treaty made an extraordinary concession of goodwill, relinquishing 80 percent of the system’s waters to Pakistan. Instead of reciprocating, Pakistan has weaponized the agreement, obstructing India’s legitimate run-of-river projects and unilaterally bypassing dispute resolution mechanisms, actions that constitute a material breach of our legal framework. To top it all, decades of sustained cross-border terrorism have shattered the mutual trust necessary for this treaty, and India has come to the conclusion that “blood and water cannot flow together.” Pakistan cannot expect India to guarantee unrestricted water flows while it simultaneously funds terrorism aimed at destabilizing the very nation providing it. India’s recent actions regarding the Indus Waters Treaty are strictly within its legal rights to fully utilize its allocated share of the river waters.Pakistan must stop using Kashmir as a political tool and instead take responsibility for the systemic oppression, enforced disappearances and lack of democratic rights in the territories under its illegal occupation. India remains committed to inclusive growth, human rights and good governance in Jammu and Kashmir, and its people are moving forward, choosing progress over propaganda. It is time the Pakistani leadership also chooses development over deception, peace over provocation. Let Aug. 5 be remembered not as a day of grievance, but as a day of justice, equality and integration, where every Indian citizen, irrespective of religion or region, stands equal before the law of the land. Veracity of facts is imperative before publishing the opinions/perspectives. Letting important, valuable space in the “Opinion” section to these concocted, false narratives of Pakistan questions the very sanctity of the credibility of your daily.I urge The Manila Times to exercise greater caution, editorial oversight to ensure articles and opinions in your daily are based on verified facts. T.D. BhutiaMinisterEmbassy of India Manila