New Delhi: A day after India chose to abstain on a draft resolution at the UNHRC calling for a debate on the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang region, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Friday said "India's vote on Xinjiang draft resolution was in line with long held position against country specific resolutions."
Calling for the respect of Human rights in Xinjiang where multiple reports alleges Chinese side of practicing extreme torture and human rights, MEA said " we hope the relevant party will address the situation objectively and properly.
Talking to ETV Bharat, Amb Ashok Kantha (retd), a seasoned diplomat who has served in China as an envoy said "India's abstention at the UNHCR is in lieu of India's policy. There's nothing very interesting about it. We usually don't support such resolutions called by specific countries."
"We have problems with China at LAC and we're looking into these issues but on this human rights issues in Xinjiang, we're looking at this issue in context of our policy on human rights violations" replied Amb Ashok to a question over the deteriorating Sino-India relations and why India abstained.
Also read: India conveys to US objections over visit to PoK by American envoy
It is pertinent to note here that the draft resolution on the situation in Xinjiang was presented by a group comprising Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US, and was co-sponsored by other countries such as Turkey.
While the votes went in favor of China with 19 against the vote, 17 agreeing for it while 11 abstained.
Those abstaining were Argentina, Armenia, Benin, Brazil, Gambia, India, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico and Ukraine. Meanwhile, those voting against a discussion were Bolivia, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Gabon, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
Meanwhile, the visit of US Ambassador to Pakistan, Donald Blome, to the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir this week and referring to it as 'Azad Kashmir' raised eyebrows in India's diplomatic circles, with many highlighting it as a position in line with India's stance on the Russian issue in Ukraine.
At Friday's weekly presser, MEA reiterated that India has expressed its concern over the US military package of USD 450 million worth of F-16 fighter aircrafts to Pakistan, adding further that "India has raised the issue of US Amb calling PoK as Azad Kashmir."
