India has criticised a UN Special Rapporteur’s report on funeral rights in exceptional circumstances, saying it singled out the Global South for practices during the COVID-19 pandemic while overlooking similar tragedies in developed countries.
Bhavika Mangalanandan, First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, made the remarks during an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief.
She also questioned what she described as fervent advocacy for the rights of terrorists who violate the right to life.
Responding to Pakistan, Mangalanandan said it was deeply ironic that a country which had not accepted the bodies of its own soldiers killed during the 1999 Kargil conflict was speaking about faith, religious freedom and burial rights.
She reminded the Pakistani delegate that the Indian Army had buried a number of Pakistani soldiers with military honours and in accordance with Islamic rites.
Mangalanandan also rejected Pakistan’s remarks on Jammu and Kashmir, advising it to direct its attention towards developments in areas under its illegal occupation, including Rawalakot.
