United Nations/Geneva (PTI): India has slammed Pakistan after it raked the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in the UN Human Rights Council, saying the "failed state” that survives on “international handouts” “dutifully” spreads “falsehoods handed down by its military-terrorist complex.”

India exercised its Right of Reply at the high-level segment of the 58th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday to lodge a strong retort to Pakistan after it raised, as it habitually does, the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at the multilateral global organisation.

“India is exercising its Right of Reply in response to the baseless and malicious references made by Pakistan. It is regrettable, yet unsurprising, to see Pakistan’s so-called leaders and delegates continuing to dutifully spread falsehoods handed down by its military-terrorist complex,” Counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva Kshitij Tyagi said.

Delivering India’s powerful response, Tyagi said it is unfortunate that this Council’s time continues to be “wasted by a failed state, which thrives on instability and survives on international handouts. Its rhetoric reeks of hypocrisy; its actions, of inhumanity; and its governance, of incompetence.”

Asserting that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were, are and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India, Tyagi said the unprecedented political, social and economic progress in Jammu and Kashmir in the past few years speaks for itself.

“These successes are a testament to the people’s trust in the government’s commitment to bring normalcy to a region scarred by decades of Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism,” he said.

He emphasised that as a country where human rights abuses, persecution of minorities and systematic erosion of democratic values constitute state policies, and which brazenly harbours UN-sanctioned terrorists, Pakistan is in no position to lecture anyone.

“Instead of its unhealthy obsession with India, Pakistan should focus on providing actual governance and justice to its own people,” he said.

Tyagi further said that Pakistan is even making a mockery of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) by “abusing it as its mouthpiece, which is fooling nobody. We do not wish to dignify such propaganda, but are constrained to make a few simple points for the record.”

Underlining that India remains focused on democracy, progress, and ensuring dignity for all its people, Tyagi said these are values that Pakistan would do well to learn from.