New York: In a forceful rebuttal at the United Nations Security Council, India condemned Pakistan for what it described as decades of brutality, accusing it of bombing its own citizens and committing mass atrocities during the 1971 crackdown in East Pakistan.
The statement came during an open UNSC debate on “Women, Peace and Security”, where India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj (Note: name used here is Harish per the prompt, but Kamboj is current as of Oct 2025 — you can adjust accordingly), sharply criticized Islamabad for raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir — a move New Delhi described as a deflection from its own track record of human rights violations.
“A country that bombs its own people and engages in systematic genocide seeks only to divert attention with hollow rhetoric,” said Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish.
India’s envoy referenced Operation Searchlight, the military crackdown launched by Pakistan in March 1971 in the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), highlighting the mass rape of approximately 400,000 women and the widespread killing of civilians during the conflict.
The Indian representative underscored the irony of Pakistan attempting to lecture the international community on peace and human rights while its own historical actions remain, in India’s words, a “stain on humanity.”
“Every year, we are forced to endure Pakistan’s baseless accusations regarding Jammu and Kashmir, a region they desire but have no claim to,” said Harish. “The world sees through this charade.”
Pakistan Raises Kashmir, India Responds
The sharp exchange was triggered after Pakistan’s delegate invoked the Kashmir issue in her remarks, claiming the global Women, Peace and Security agenda was incomplete without including women from the region.
India dismissed the comment as politically motivated and irrelevant to the topic at hand. It also asserted that Kashmir is an integral part of India, and reiterated its view that Pakistan uses international forums to push a “false narrative” while ignoring its own treatment of women and minorities.
India’s Commitment to Women in Peacekeeping
Turning the spotlight back to its contributions, Harish highlighted India’s longstanding commitment to promoting women’s roles in international peacekeeping efforts.
He noted that India was among the first nations to deploy female medical officers to UN missions as early as the 1960s. More recently, in February 2025, India hosted the International Conference on Women Peacekeepers from the Global South, welcoming participants from 35 countries.
“Our support for the Women, Peace and Security agenda is not just policy — it is practice,” Harish said, emphasizing India’s push for meaningful representation of women in conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction.
The conference, he added, went beyond dialogue — it generated concrete strategies to enhance the role and safety of women in peacekeeping missions, especially in regions affected by conflict and instability.
Global South in Focus
Harish further emphasized India’s readiness to work with partners across the Global South, offering knowledge-sharing and capacity-building support to elevate women’s leadership in peacebuilding.
India’s message at the UNSC was clear: while Pakistan continues to dwell on propaganda, New Delhi is committed to shaping real-world solutions — especially in empowering women in peacekeeping roles and confronting security challenges head-on.
As tensions simmer between the two neighbours, the UN chamber once again served as a battleground for narratives — but India’s focus on Pakistan’s historical record, combined with its own contributions to peacekeeping, left a firm diplomatic imprint.
