‘Exporting terror, regressive ideologies and for oppressing women’s voice’: India slams Pakistan at UNSC

India lashed
out at Pakistan for raising the issue of women’s rights in Kashmir in the UN
Security Council, saying the country represents a system that has been exporting
terrorism and regressive extremist ideologies and oppressing women’s voices for
narrow political gains.

India’s
strong response came after Pakistan’s outgoing UN envoy Maleeha Lodhi commented
on the situation in Kashmir, revocation of Article 370 and women’s rights in
the Valley during the debate on October 29.

“As everyone
today focuses on collective action, one delegation rhetorically brings up about
women’s rights in my country,” First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to
the UN Paulomi Tripathi said Monday at a Security Council open debate on Women,
Peace and Security.

Asserting
that India firmly rejects the baseless allegations, Tripathi said “the Council
has not paid attention to such untruthful narratives in the past, and we are
confident that the Council will continue to do so, to ensure that its agenda is
not used as a ploy for furthering territorial ambitions.” In her remarks to the
debate, Tripathi underscored that violence against women and girls committed by
terrorists remain uncontrolled and domination of women in public and in private
spheres continue across situations that are on the agenda of the Council.

Further,
Tripathi highlighted the positive impacts of greater participation of women in
UN peacekeeping but voiced concern that women make up only 4.2% of military
personnel in UN peacekeeping missions.

“We ought to
encourage participation of all women units to achieve the set targets in this
regard,” she said.

Tripathi
pointed out that a trend in which in order to accommodate those who cannot
fulfill the commitments of providing all women units to peacekeeping missions,
mixed units are being given preference by diluting the policy frameworks.

 “If this continues, we possibly cannot achieve
the set targets,” she said as she added that India remains committed to
increasing the number of women peacekeepers and has deployed a Female
Engagement Team in UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (MONUSCO) earlier this year.