Mazari for axing Priyanka as UN goodwill envoy

ISLAMABAD: Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen M Mazari on Wednesday wrote a letter to UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore seeking immediate removal of Indian actress Priyanka Chopra as the UN Goodwill Ambassador for Peace.

She wrote the letter over Priyanka Chopra’s pro-war comments and support to the BJP government's policy of ethnic cleansing, racism, fascism, genocide and Indian government’s violations of international conventions and UN resolutions on Kashmir and nuclear threat issued to Pakistan by the Indian defence minister.

In the letter, Dr Mazari said the support of the UN Goodwill Ambassador Pariyanka Chopra for nuclear war undermines the credibility of the UN position to which she has been elevated.

She said she wished to draw the UNICEF chief's attention to the issue of Priyanka Chopra whom she had appointed as a UN Goodwill Ambassador for Peace.

The minister said the recent crisis in Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) has been result of the Modi government’s violation of all international conventions that it is a signatory to, along with UNSC resolutions as well as conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Muslims in IHK.

She said the Modi government is also denying 4 million Indian Muslims of their citizenship in Assam creating “detention Centres” akin to Nazi concentration camps.

The minister said the Indian occupation forces have also intensified their campaign of using pellet guns against women and children as well as violence and abuse of women in IHK.

She said the entire policy of the BJP government was similar to the Nazi doctrine of ethnic cleansing, racism, fascism, and genocide. Ms Chopra has publicly endorsed this Indian government position and also supported the nuclear threat issued to Pakistan by the Indian defence minister.

"All this goes completely against the principles of peace and goodwill that Ms Chopra is supposed to uphold as a UN Goodwill Ambassador for Peace. Her jingoism and support for violations by the Modi government of international conventions and UNSC resolutions on Kashmir, as well as support for the war, including nuclear war, undermines the credibility of the UN position to which she has been elevated. Unless she is removed immediately, the very idea of a UN Goodwill Ambassador for Peace becomes a mockery globally," she said.

The minister requested the immediate denotification of Pariyanka as the UN Goodwill Ambassador for Peace.