India slams ‘unwarranted and misleading’ remarks of UN experts on Manipur violence

India has hit back at the recent comments made by UN experts on the Manipur sectarian violence, calling them “unwarranted, presumptive, and misleading”.

Asserting that the situation in the northeast state is peaceful and stable, the Indian mission said that the Indian government was committed to taking requisite steps to maintain peace and stability.

"The Government is also committed to protecting the human rights of the people of India, including the people of Manipur,” it said in the note verbale sent on Monday (Sept 4) to the Special Procedures Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“The Permanent Mission of India completely rejects the news release as it is not only unwarranted, presumptive and misleading but also betrays a complete lack of understanding on the situation in Manipur and the steps taken by Government of India to address it,” the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva said.

India kept in the dark about UN report

The response from India came after the Special Procedure Mandate Holders (SPMH) released a report titled ‘India: UNexperts alarmed by continuing abuses in Manipur’.

The Indian mission expressed disappointment and surprise that the SPMHs chose to issue the press release without waiting for the 60-day period for the Indian government to respond to a joint communication issued on the same topic on August 29, 2023.

The Indian mission expressed hope that in the future, the SPMH would be “more objective” in their assessment, based on the facts.

'Refrain from making remarks'

It hoped that the SPMH would “refrain from commenting on the developments, which have no relevance to the mandate given to them by the Council and abide by the established procedure for issuing news releases and wait for inputs sought from the Government of India before doing so.”

In the report, the UN experts said they were “appalled” by the reports and images of gender-based violence targeting hundreds of women and girls of all ages, and predominantly of the Kuki ethnic minority.

“The alleged violence includes gang rape, parading women naked in the street, severe beatings causing death, and burning them alive or dead,” the experts said.

The experts also pointed to an “inadequate humanitarian response” in the wake of the grave humanitarian situation in Manipur following the latest round of community conflict between the predominantly Hindu Meitei and the predominantly Christian Kuki ethnic communities that erupted in May 2023.

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