India accused Pakistan of “bombing its own people” while misusing the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to launch “baseless and provocative” attacks against New Delhi. Speaking at the 60th session in Geneva, Indian diplomat Kshitij Tyagi, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of India, said Islamabad should turn its attention to its collapsing economy and dismal human rights record instead of targeting India.
“A delegation that epitomises the antithesis of this approach continues to abuse this forum with baseless and provocative statements against India,” Tyagi told the Council during Agenda Item 4. He continued, “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.”
India’s response came a day after reports emerged that the Pakistani Air Force had struck the Tirah Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Matre Dara village, killing at least 30 civilians, including women and children. The attack, carried out at night with Chinese-made JF-17 fighter jets and LS-6 laser-guided bombs, took place as residents slept.
The bombing has provoked anger in a region already unsettled by a rise in terrorist attacks. Just last week, thousands in Mingora, Swat Valley, staged protests demanding urgent measures from authorities to restore peace. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a remote and mountainous province on the Afghan border, remains a hub for militant hideouts and a key flashpoint where the Pakistani state continues to struggle for control.
