The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Michelle Bachelet has condemned the Pulwama Terror Attack and has called upon authorities to bring those responsible to justice.
“The High Commissioner strongly condemns the suicide bomb attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February and calls on authorities to bring those responsible to justice,” spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Rupert Colville said.
The UN Human Rights speech also expressed concerns about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan and hoped that the events “will not add further to the insecurity in the region”.
Intriguingly, however, Colville said the High Commissioner is also “concerned” by reports from India that “some elements” are using the attack as “justification for threats and potential acts of violence” targeting Kashmiri people living in different parts of India.
The duplicity of the UNHCHR is revealed by the fact that its sermons are reserved only for India while countries that commit the most heinous of human rights violations are given a free pass. As we had reported earlier, the UNHCR had condemned India for deporting 5 Rohingyas while it maintained a stoic silence when Saudi Arabia was busy deporting hundreds of them.
As the UNHCHR’s statement on the fictional narrative of “Kashmiris under attack” shows, it has become an institution that seeks to superimpose itself upon nation states, thus undermining their authority. The Indian government has been providing Kashmiris around the country with adequate security. The only verified instances of ‘attack’ against them are incidents where legal action is being pursued against them for celebrating the deadly terror attack which quite naturally violates the sensibilities of our people. That the UNHCHR cannot condemn the Pulwama attack without mentioning the fictional narrative of “Kashmiris under attack” only reveals its utter moral bankruptcy.
Pakistan’s quite overt support to terrorists has also escaped the attention of the organization, it appears. For decades, Pakistan has been nurturing Jihadists in its soil and yet, the UNHCHR has been unable to put forth an unequivocal condemnation of the country’s political dispensation. If there was any institution on the face of the Earth which had lesser credibility than the Pakistani government, then its the Human Rights division of the United Nations.
Last year, the United States quit the UNHRC calling it a “cesspool of political bias”. Nikki Haley, the then US envoy to the UN called the institution “hypocritical” and that it “makes a mockery of human rights”.
Not just the UNHRC, the United Nations, on the whole, is proving to be a defunct global institution that serves no useful purpose. It has been utterly unable to prevent any human rights violations or wars and has been shown to bark only at those who threaten the status quo of the global order. China hasn’t been made to suffer any consequences for the tremendous human rights violations it commits, Saudi Arabia suffers no consequences for its inhuman war on Yemen, the US and other western countries have walked away without suffering any consequences for destabilizing the entire Middle East. The verdict on the matter is clear, if you have enough power, the UN will bow down and lick your feet. If you are a rising power, it will do everything in its limited capacity to thwart your ambitions.
