India at UNHRC says Pakistan’s claims ‘reek of envy,’ notes Islamabad ‘living in la la land’ | Video

India on Wednesday (Feb 25) slammed Pakistan at the 61st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, with a pointed remark noting that Islamabad must be "hallucinating or living in la la land" if it believes development in Jammu and Kashmir was not real. The comment came during India’s Right to Reply at the session in Geneva, where New Delhi pushed back against allegations raised by Pakistan and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

India slams Pak's ‘hallucinations’, reiterates Kashmir an ‘integral and inalienable’ part of territory

India's representative Anupama Singh accused Islamabad of recycling propaganda and said the OIC had allowed itself to become an "echo chamber" for one member state. "We categorically reject these allegations," she said, adding that Pakistan’s repeated claims “reek of envy.”

Singh also reiterated India's position on Jammu and Kashmir and said that it "was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India." She said the region's accession in 1947 was "completely legal and irrevocable," grounded in the Indian Independence Act and international norms.

"The only outstanding dispute regarding this region is the illegal occupation of Indian territories by Pakistan," she noted, calling on Islamabad to vacate areas under its control.

Watch what India's representative Anupama Singh said here:

Development versus crisis

Singh's sharpest remark came when she pointed to recent infrastructure projects in the region, including the Chenab Rail Bridge, the world's highest railway bridge, inaugurated last year.

"If the Chenab Rail Bridge, the world's highest bridge, inaugurated in Jammu and Kashmir last year, is fake, then Pakistan must be hallucinating or living in the 'La-la-land'" Singh said.

Contrasting what she described as Jammu and Kashmir's expanding development budget with Pakistan’s economic troubles, she then claimed that the Union Territory's development budget was "more than double the recent bailout package", the size of Pakistan’s recent IMF bailout package.

Responding to Pakistan's criticism of India’s democratic record in the region, Singh said it was "hard to take lectures on democracy from a country where civilian governments rarely complete their terms." She pointed to voter participation in recent elections as evidence that people in Jammu and Kashmir have "rejected the ideology of terrorism and violence" for development.

Singh also accused Pakistan of continuing to back militancy in the region, calling it "relentless state-sponsored terrorism."