India slams Switzerland ‘shallow’ remarks on minorities, calls Bern to look its own ‘racism’, ‘xenophobia’ at UNHRC
By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – Indian diplomat Kshitij Tyagi on Thursday condemned Switzerland’s comments on India’s treatment of minorities, called them “surprising, shallow, and ill-informed.” in a strongly worded rebuttal at the 60th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Tyagi urged Switzerland currently holds the UNHRC presidency, to focus on its own domestic challenges, including racism, systemic discrimination, and xenophobia rather than wasting “Council’s Time with False Narratives”.
He was responding during the 5th meeting of the UNHRC session, Tyagi said, “We would also like to respond to the surprising, shallow and ill-informed remarks made by Switzerland, a close friend and partner. As it holds the UNHRC presidency, it is all the more important for Switzerland to avoid wasting the council’s time with narratives that are blatantly false and do not do justice to the reality of India.”
Switzerland had called on India to “protect minorities and uphold the rights to freedom of expression and the media.”
In response, Tyagi firmly rejected the claim and suggested that Bern should redirect its attention inward.
He said that pointing to the issues prevailing in Switzerland “Instead, it should focus on its own challenges such as racism, systematic discrimination and xenophobia. As the world’s largest, most diverse and vibrant democracy, with a civilizational embrace of pluralism, India remains ready to help Switzerland address these concerns.”
Tyagi also used the global forum to denounce Pakistan for its role in the Pahalgam terror attack, describing the country as a “failed state” addicted to “propaganda and terror.”
Indian Diplomat Kshitij Tyagi said “Our measured and proportionate response to the Pahalgam attack made that sufficiently clear. We need no lessons from a terror sponsor, no sermons from a persecutor of pic.
“Our measured and proportionate response to the Pahalgam attack made that sufficiently clear. We need no lessons from a terror sponsor, no sermons from a persecutor of minorities, no advice from a state that has conjured its own credibility,” he said.
“India will continue to protect its citizens with unwavering resolve. We will defend our sovereignty without compromise. And we will continue to expose time and again the elaborate deception of a failed state whose survival depends on trafficking in terror and tragedy.”
He criticized Pakistan for misuse of international forums, he said, “Yet again, we are forced to respond to provocations from a nation whose leadership recently likened it to a dump truck a metaphor that inadvertently captures its tendency to unload tired lies and recycled propaganda before this august body.”
“Pakistan’s habitual exploitation of this forum, coupled with its routine misuse of the OIC as a proxy, has become all too familiar. Its obsessive preoccupation with India appears to be its only means of sustaining relevance,” he added.
