India on Friday said its decision to abstain from the voting on the rights situation in China's Xinjiang at the United Nations Human Rights Commission was in line with the practice of not voting on country-specific resolutions.
India abstained on a resolution at the UNHRC calling for a debate on the human rights situation in Xinjiang.
It is in line with India's practice of not voting on country-specific resolution, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing.
He was replying to a question on the issue.
Meanwhile, Opposition leaders have criticised the government for abstaining from voting, saying India should speak for what is right and should not be afraid of its neighbour.
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari wondered why there was "so much diffidence on China".
"The Government of India will not agree to a Parliamentary debate on Chinese incursions. India will abstain at UNHRC on a resolution for debate on human rights in Xinjiang," he tweeted.
He alleged that the Ministry of External Affairs does not accord political clearance to Parliamentarians to visit Taiwan.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale tweeted, "Giving them our land and abstaining on holding them to account. What exactly is it that makes (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi so afraid of China?"
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi wanted to know from the prime minister the reason for India's decision "to help China out in the UNHRC on the Uighur issue".
"Is he so scared of offending (Chinese President) Xi Jingping (Jinping), whom he met 18 times, that India can't speak for what is right?," he tweeted.
"From red eye to closed eye," tweeted Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shiv Sena leader, in Hindi.
