ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday supported China on the Xjnjiang issue after the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report on human rights in Xinjiang.
Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said Pakistan had taken note of the release of the OHCHR report on human rights in Xinjiang.
“As a responsible member of the United Nations with strong commitment to multilateralism, Pakistan believes in the principles of the UN Charter including respect for political independence, sovereignty and non- interference in internal affairs of states,” he added. The spokesperson said it was “our consistent position that non-politicization, universality, objectivity, dialogue and constructive engagement should be the main tools to promote universal respect for human rights.” He said, “Pakistan supports China’s efforts for socio-economic development, harmony and peace and stability in Xinjiang. China has succeeded in lifting over 700 million people out of poverty in the last 35 years, thus improving their living conditions and the enjoyment of fundamental human rights.” He further said: “We appreciate China’s constructive engagement with the UN human rights system as well as the OIC General Secretariat, as evidenced by visits of the former High Commissioner for Human Rights and OIC delegation to China.” Ahmed said Pakistan “reaffirms its abiding commitment to advance all human rights universally in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter.” Earlier, a long-awaited report by the Office of the OHCHR into the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) concluded that “serious human rights violations” against the Uyghur and “other predominantly Muslim communities” have been committed. The report published in the wake of the visit by UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet in May, said that “allegations of patterns of torture, or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence.” In a strongly-worded assessment at the end of the report, OHCHR said that the extent of arbitrary detentions against Uyghur and others, in context of “restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights, enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”