Pak has no licence to meddle in India's internal affairs: Cong

The Congress on Wednesday lashed out at Pakistan for seeking to internationalise the Kashmir issue and said it has no licence to meddle in India's internal affairs or get other nations to do so.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Pakistan should stop lying before the United Nations and other platforms on Kashmir and should instead look within and stop human rights violations on its soil.

"It amazes me that on the one hand Pakistan is an imploding state, it is a failed state; its economy is in tatters; it has to extend its begging bowl to so many countries; it is the most famous exporter to terror and yet it has the gall, cheek and audacity to try and internationalise J&K," he told PTI.

Singhvi said Pakistan may be obsessively India-centric, but as far as India's world view is concerned, Pakistan is not even a blip on the radar.

"We are a vibrant democracy and we have our internal political differences as every democracy must, but that is no licence for Pakistan to itself meddle in our internal affairs or get other nations to do so," he said.

India and Pakistan engaged in a war of words over the Kashmir issue on Tuesday at the UNHRC with New Delhi stoutly defending its "sovereign decision" to revoke Jammu and Kashmir's special status, an issue on which Islamabad demanded an international investigation by the global rights body.

Speaking at the 42nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry Vijay Thakur Singh hit out at Pakistan's "malicious" campaign on the Kashmir issue and condemned "state sponsored terrorism".

Responding to UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's oral update on Monday, Singh said the recent legislative measures taken by India in Jammu and Kashmir are within the framework of its Constitution.

Bachelet on Monday expressed "deep concern" over the impact of restrictions in Kashmir, and asked India to ease the current lockdowns to ensure people's access to basic services.