Rejecting an updated report of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, India on Monday lodged a strong protest with the Geneva-based body, saying the update seems to accord legitimacy to terrorism in complete variance with UN Security Council position.

The updated report was ”merely a continuation of the earlier false and motivated narrative” on Jammu and Kashmir, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to questions.

The report’s ”assertions are in violation of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and ignore the core issue of cross-border terrorism,” he added.

The report, released in Geneva earlier in the day, alleged that both India and Pakistan failed to improve the situation in Kashmir and have not taken any steps to address the numerous concerns raised in the earlier report released by the rights body last year.

The Indian spokesperson objected to the fact that the OHCHR has ‘analysed’ without any reference to its casualty a situation created in Jammu and Kashmir by years of cross-border terrorist attacks emanating from Pakistan. ”The update seems to be a contrived effort to create an artificial parity between the world’s largest and the most vibrant democracy (India) and a country that openly practices state-sponsored terrorism (Pakistan),” he added.

The spokesperson recalled that the UN Security Council had, in February, strongly condemned the dastardly Pulwama terror attack and subsequently proscribed JeM chief Masood Azhar. However, in the update, terrorist leaders and organisations sanctioned by the UN were deliberately underplayed as “armed groups”, he regretted.

He said the ‘legitimisation’ of terrorism has been further compounded by an ‘unacceptable advocacy’ of the dismemberment of a UN member State. ”The entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. Pakistan is in illegal and forcible occupation of a part of the Indian state, including the so called ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ and ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, through aggression. We have repeatedly called on Pakistan to vacate these occupied territories.” he added.

The spokesperson said the update, by distorting India’s policies, practices and values, has undermined its own credibility. ”Its failure to recognise an independent judiciary, human rights institutions and other mechanisms in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that safeguard, protect and promote constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights to all citizens of India is unpardonable.”

The spokesperson said the update belittled constitutional provisions, statutory procedures and established practices in an established functioning democracy. ”The prejudiced mindset of the update has also chosen to willfully ignore the determined and comprehensive socio-economic development efforts undertaken by the government in the face of terrorist challenges,” he added.

The release of such an update has not only called into question the seriousness of OHCHR but also its alignment with the larger approach of the UN, the spokesman added.

He said the Indian Government followed the policy of ‘zero tolerance’ towards terrorism and would take all measures to protect its territorial integrity and sovereignty against cross-border terrorism. Motivated attempts to weaken India’s resolve would never succeed, he added.