India slams Pakistan at UNHRC over its J&K claims: ‘Living in a La La Land’

India Wednesday sharply rebuked Pakistan at the United Nations Human Rights Council, accusing it of “hallucinating” and living in a “La La Land” for calling the Chenab rail bridge fake, and underscored that Jammu and Kashmir’s development budget is more than double the recent bailout package Islamabad sought from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This sharply-worded response was delivered by Indian diplomat Anupama Singh at the 61st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is being held in Geneva from February 23 to March 31. “No amount of wishful rhetoric or audacious propaganda by Pakistan can alter the immutable fact that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India was completely legal and irrevocable and in accordance with the Indian Independence Act of 1947 and international law. In fact, the only outstanding dispute regarding this region is the illegal occupation of Indian territories by Pakistan. We call upon Pakistan to vacate these areas which remain under its forcible occupation,” Singh said in a prepared text. Lashing out at Pakistan on its democratic and economic record, the Indian diplomat said, “It is indeed hard to take lectures on democracy from a country where civilian governments rarely complete their terms; they ring hollow. The record voter turnout in general elections and Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir is a testimony to the fact that people of Jammu and Kashmir have rejected the ideology of terrorism and violence propagated by Pakistan and are surging ahead on the path of development and democracy.” “If the Chenab rail bridge, the world’s highest bridge, inaugurated in J&K last year, is fake, then Pakistan must be hallucinating or living in La La land. Or maybe Pakistan finds it unbelievable that the developmental budget of J&K is more than double the recent bailout package they sought from the IMF,” Singh said. Flagging Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism at the UN, the Indian diplomat said, “Despite Pakistan’s efforts to destabilise the region through relentless state-sponsored terrorism, J&K continues to surge ahead, politically, economically and socially. Pakistan would do well if it focuses on fixing its deepening internal crisis than to mask them with grandstanding … the world can certainly see through its charade.” She also said that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had allowed itself to be used as an “echo chamber” for one member state. “We categorically reject these allegations,” Singh said, adding that Pakistan’s “incessant propaganda now reeks of envy”.