United Nations: India strongly hit back at Pakistan’s attempts at the UN to paint a “propagandist” picture of New Delhi, saying Islamabad’s “Form 47 government” can “dare not” override instructions from the country’s real rulers, the Pakistani military.
Form 47 is an official election document in Pakistan that records the provisional, consolidated results of voting in a constituency.
The February 2024 general elections were marred by allegations of rigging and irregularities, with critics using the term “Form 47” to question the official results.
R Mythili, Counsellor in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, criticized Pakistan during a UN General Assembly Sixth Committee discussion on the “Rule of Law at National and International Levels,” stating that “Army is the rule, and Army is the law” in Pakistan.
India asserted that Pakistan’s military effectively dictates governance at home while lecturing other nations on the rule of law.
Mythili pointed to Pakistan’s 26th Constitutional Amendment as a major blow to judicial independence, noted that no elected government in Pakistan has ever finished a full term, and highlighted the arbitrary jailing and denial of care for political leaders.
India accused Islamabad of preventing popular parties from contesting elections, trying civilians in military courts, and suppressing dissent.
First Secretary Bhavika Mangalanandan separately countered Pakistan on minority rights and religious freedom, noting that Pakistan has no standing to lecture India given its treatment of shrinking minority populations and recalling how the Indian Army buried unclaimed Pakistani soldiers with military honors and Islamic rites after the 1999 Kargil War.
