Parvathaneni Harish (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI: During the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) debate, India flayed Pakistan over its “delusional tirade” over Kashmir and highlighted the 1971 “systematic genocide” campaign that sanctioned a mass rape of 40,000 women by the Pakistani army.Parvathaneni Harish, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, said India was “unfortunately fated to listen to the delusional tirade of Pakistan” that “distract 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 while speaking on the Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security.He further said: “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.”Pakistan’s army launched a brutal crackdown in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) under Operation Searchlight in 1971, killing up to 3 million people and raping over 40,000 women citizens. The campaign targeted Bengali civilians and minorities. India intervened, leading to Pakistan’s defeat and Bangladesh’s creation. The “bombing its own people” remark was in the backdrop of the Pakistani air force killing over 30 people in an overnight air strike in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa village last month.In September, representing India at the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, Kshitij Tyagi, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of India, Geneva, said Pakistan should “focus on rescuing an economy on life support, a polity muzzled by military dominance, and a human rights record stained by persecution”.”A delegation that epitomises the antithesis of this approach continues to abuse this forum with baseless and provocative statements against India,” he said.Tyagi futher said: “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.
