United Nations | May 21, 2026 - India delivered a sharp rebuke to Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, accusing Islamabad of carrying a "long-tainted record of genocidal acts" and calling it deeply ironic that Pakistan had invoked the situation in Jammu and Kashmir during a session convened to discuss the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, made the remarks during the Annual UNSC Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict — a forum Pakistan had used to raise what New Delhi considers a strictly internal matter.
"It is ironic that Pakistan, with its long-tainted record of genocidal acts, has chosen to refer to issues that are strictly internal to India," Ambassador Parvathaneni said.
The Kabul Hospital Strike
At the centre of India's indictment was a Pakistani airstrike carried out in March during the holy month of Ramadan, which destroyed the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul. The ambassador described the attack as "barbaric" and said the facility bore no plausible military justification.
Citing figures from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), he said the strike claimed 269 civilian lives and wounded a further 122. The strikes hit as patients were leaving a mosque following tarawih evening prayers. The cross-border violence had also driven over 94,000 people from their homes, according to UNAMA.
The ambassador accused Pakistan of hypocrisy for invoking the principles of international law while "targeting innocent civilians in the dark."
1971 and Operation Searchlight
Ambassador Parvathaneni also raised Pakistan's conduct during Operation Searchlight in 1971, the Pakistani Army's campaign to suppress the Bangladeshi nationalist movement in what was then East Pakistan. He said Pakistan had sanctioned the systematic campaign of genocidal mass rape of 400,000 women by its own army during that operation.
"Such inhuman conduct reflects Pakistan's repeated attempts over decades to externalise internal failures through increasingly desperate acts of violence both within and beyond its borders. With no faith, no law, and no morality, the world can see through Pakistan's propaganda," he said.
Diplomatic Context
Pakistan's representative had raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir during the open debate, prompting India's response. New Delhi has consistently maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and not a matter for international deliberation.
The exchange underscored deepening tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. India has signalled, including through remarks by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, that it will respond forcefully to any future provocations from Pakistan.