India has slammed Pakistan for terming the just-concluded election in Jammu and Kashmir a “Sham”.
It’s Pakistan and not India that is committed to sham elections, Eldos Mathew Punnoose, a counsellor at India’s United Nations Mission said while responding to Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at the General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization Committee.
“Sham elections, incarceration of Opposition leaders, and suppression of political voices are what Pakistan is familiar with. It is natural that Pakistan must be disappointed to see real democracy at work,” Punnoose was quoted as saying by media reports.
Earlier, speaking at the debate on decolonization at the panel, which is also known as the Fourth Committee, the Pakistani official called the just-completed election in Jammu and Kashmir a “sham”.
“Given their tainted democratic record, Pakistan considers real democratic exercises as a sham, as reflected in their statement,” the Indian official stressed.
Talking about the election he proudly said: “It was only last week that election results were announced in Jammu and Kashmir. Millions of voters in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have spoken.”
“They exercised their right to vote and have chosen their leadership according to the Constitutional framework and universal adult suffrage,” Punnoose said, adding, “clearly, these terms must be alien to Pakistan”.
Interestingly, when Pakistan organized its national elections in February this year, opposition leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan and a number of his supporters were put in jail and prevented from contesting the polls.
A large number of restrictions on the opposition leaders hampered their ability to campaign for their political parties.
The elections, held under the military control, were marred by violence.