India has categorically refuted the observations of UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur as "unfounded and baseless."
India's Permanent Representative at the UN in Geneva, Arindam Bagchi, said that the nation is still a "healthy, vibrant, and pluralistic society" and decried the global update for its "cherry-picking" of scenarios.
Bagchi stressed that Jammu and Kashmir has experienced substantial peace and development, citing high turnout for local elections, tourism, and fast-paced development. He also objected to Turk calling Jammu and Kashmir just "Kashmir," insisting on India's sovereignty over the territory.
In the case of Manipur, Turk had demanded "stepped-up efforts" to combat violence and displacement, but India brushed aside these allegations, saying that the update was lacking in nuance and oversimplified complicated problems.
One of the main Indian criticisms was that the UN report was selective, with no reference to Pakistan but to human rights violations in a number of other countries. Bagchi called on the UN to have a "long and hard look in the mirror" at how it handled such issues.
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