This happens at a time when Pakistan continues to foment a ‘culture of violence’ at home and across its borders. “Pakistan’s deplorable human rights records and discriminatory treatment of religious and ethnic minorities is a cause of persistent concern for the international community. Blasphemy laws are used against religious minorities such as Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs, to violate their human rights and dignity. Women and girls remain particularly vulnerable as they are abducted, raped, forcefully converted and married to their violators,” the statement added
Exposing the Pakistani delegation’s propaganda India said, “Talk of ‘culture of peace’ from the delegation of Pakistan is nothing but a decoy to divert attention from their own shameful records.” Tearing apart the duplicity of the Pakistani state India said that before making absurd allegations against India, where equal rights of people of all faiths are guaranteed by the constitution, the delegation of Pakistan must do itself a favour of looking at their own system and records of protecting minorities.
Referring to the ongoing pandemic worldwide the statement said that it has underscored the interconnectedness and interdependence of the humankind like never before. It added that India understands the importance of promoting dialogues and building alliances between religions, cultures, and ethnic groups. In the same spirit, India remains ready to support all efforts to build bridges of understanding across the world to emerge stronger from this crisis and to shape the foundation for a better world.
The statement underlined the importance of collaboration in dealing with the misinformation campaign. “We need greater collaboration among states and other stakeholders including technology companies, to stop the spread of misinformation and disinformation, and to build strong counter-narratives based on reason, science, and empathy. We need to bolster access to information to ensure informed decision making at all levels and to empower women and youth,” said the statement.
India has played an important role globally, despite being hit by the pandemic; it has assumed the responsibility of helping other countries through humanitarian assistance. Underlining India’s global outreach the statement said, “We have also extended assistance to fellow developing countries under the rubric of South-South Cooperation to strengthen their capacity to respond to the crisis.
Inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue between individuals and groups with different backgrounds are key to promoting a culture of peace. The UN system, especially UNESCO has played a pioneering role in this. The Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) is a platform for dialogue between people from diverse backgrounds within and between countries. India said that the world needs to encourage more such cross-cultural engagements to mitigate the hateful narratives that tend to dominate public discourse.
– Abhishek Jha