NEW DELHI: During a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) debate, India sharply criticized Pakistan over its “delusional tirade” regarding Kashmir and highlighted the 1971 “systematic genocide” campaign that included the sanctioned mass rape of 400,000 women by the Pakistani army.
Parvathaneni Harish, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, stated that India was “unfortunately fated to listen to the delusional tirade of Pakistan” aimed at distracting the world with “misdirection and hyperbole.”
“Every year, we are unfortunately fated to listen to the delusional tirade of Pakistan against my country, especially on Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian territory they covet. Our pioneering record on the Women, Peace and Security agenda is unblemished and unscathed,” Harish said at the UNSC Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security.
Operation Searchlight and Genocidal Mass Rape
Harish went on to explicitly invoke the 1971 conflict: “A country that bombs its own people, conducts systematic genocide, can only attempt to distract the world with misdirection and hyperbole. This is a country that conducted Operation Searchlight in 1971 and sanctioned a systematic campaign of genocidal mass rape of 400,000 women citizens by its own army. The world sees through Pakistan’s propaganda.”
The Indian representative referred to the brutal crackdown launched by Pakistan’s army in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) under Operation Searchlight in 1971, which resulted in the killing of up to 3 million people and the rape of over 400,000 women citizens. The campaign targeted Bengali civilians and minorities, leading to India’s intervention, Pakistan’s defeat, and the eventual creation of Bangladesh.
The “bombing its own people” remark was made in the backdrop of the Pakistani air force killing over 30 people in an overnight air strike in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa village last month.
Economic and Political Criticism
The Indian attack echoed earlier diplomatic confrontations. In September, at the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, Kshitij Tyagi, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of India, Geneva, had said Pakistan should instead “focus on rescuing an economy on life support, a polity muzzled by military dominance, and a human rights record stained by persecution.”
Tyagi added that Pakistan’s delegation “epitomises the antithesis of this approach” by abusing the forum with “baseless and provocative statements against India.”
He further advised: “Instead of coveting our territory, they would do well to vacate the Indian territory under their illegal occupation and focus on rescuing an economy on life support, a polity muzzled by military dominance, and a human rights record stained by persecution, perhaps once they find time away from exporting terrorism, harbouring UN-proscribed terrorists, and bombing their own people.”
Source: Times Of India
