Pakistan rejects Israel's criticism of human rights violations

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday rejected Israel's criticism of alleged human rights violations in his country on Wednesday, instead alleging the “Zionists” of atrocities against Palestinians for decades.

"There is no comparison of Israel's brutalities and human rights violations against Palestinians. They (Israeli forces) have left hundreds of thousands of Palestinian kids orphaned," Sharif said while addressing a ceremony in the capital Islamabad.

He was responding to a rare statement made by Israel at the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, in which its Permanent Representative to the UN Adi Farjon criticized the human rights situation in Pakistan.

Farjon said Tel Aviv is “deeply concerned about the overall rights situation in Pakistan where enforced disappearances, torture, crackdown on peaceful protests and violence against religious minorities and other marginalized groups remain prevalent.”

“Israel believes that it is essential that Pakistan heeds our recommendations to take all appropriate steps to prevent arbitrary arrests, torture, and other ill-treatment and bring perpetrators of such acts to justice and end the widespread use of the death penalty, especially against children and persons with disabilities,” she added referring to arrests of thousands of opposition party workers from the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Thousands of PTI workers and leaders have been in jail on charges of attacking military installations following Khan’s arrest in a corruption case on May 9.

Sharif called the statement "highly condemnable," and said Israel should be "ashamed of what it has been doing against Palestinians for decades."

"It (Tel Aviv) has no right to issue such a statement. I want to ask how would it react if a similar (May 9) incident had occurred in Israel," he questioned.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry described Israel's statement as “politically motivated” and “fundamentally at variance with the positive tone” of the Human Rights Council meeting.

Pakistan does not recognize Israel and has never established diplomatic relations with it.