At UN, India tears into Pakistan over 1971 genocidal assault of 400,000 women, calls its Kashmir tirade ‘delusional’

India on Monday denounced Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council, exposing Islamabad’s “delusional tirade” on Jammu and Kashmir and reminding the world of the horrific atrocities committed by the Pakistani Army during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War: including the genocidal mass rape of 400,000 women.

Speaking during the UNSC debate on Women, Peace and Security, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish, tore into Pakistan’s representative for yet another attempt to internationalise Kashmir, saying the country that “bombs its own people” and “conducts systematic genocide” had no moral ground to speak on women’s rights or peace.

“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,” Ambassador Harish said in a pointed address. “Our pioneering record on the women, peace and security agenda is unblemished and unscathed. A country that bombs its own people, conducts systematic genocide can only attempt to distract the world with misdirection and hyperbole.”


The remarks came after Pakistan’s Counsellor Saima Saleem used the platform to again raise Kashmir, drawing an immediate and forceful counter from the Indian envoy.

‘A systematic campaign of genocidal mass rape’

Harish invoked one of the darkest chapters of South Asian history — Pakistan’s 1971 Operation Searchlight in then East Pakistan — to underline the scale of Islamabad’s hypocrisy.

“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,” he said, reminding the Council that Pakistan’s record on human rights was soaked in blood and brutality. “The world sees through Pakistan’s propaganda.”

Operation Searchlight, launched by Pakistan’s military regime in March 1971 to crush Bengali nationalism, led to mass killings, sexual violence, and displacement on a staggering scale. Historians and rights groups estimate that between 300,000 and 3 million people were killed, while hundreds of thousands of women were subjected to rape as an instrument of war — an atrocity that continues to define Pakistan’s human rights record half a century later.

By recalling those crimes, India sought to expose what it called Pakistan’s strategy of using “hyperbole and misdirection” to shift attention from its own brutal history.

‘The world sees through Pakistan’s propaganda’

The debate, marking 25 years of the landmark Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, focused on the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls. The resolution, adopted in 2000, emphasises the need to protect women’s rights during conflicts and ensure their participation in peace processes.

Harish’s remarks drew a sharp contrast between India’s record and Pakistan’s history, positioning New Delhi as a responsible global actor in advancing women’s security and empowerment.

“Our record is unblemished,” he said, reinforcing India’s credentials as a nation that has not only participated in peacekeeping but has also championed gender-inclusive policies at home and abroad.

Pakistan, by contrast, was portrayed as a nation that routinely invokes Kashmir to deflect scrutiny from its internal repression and its sponsorship of terrorism. “The world sees through Pakistan’s propaganda,” Harish reiterated, cutting through Islamabad’s rhetoric with a reminder of its blood-soaked past.

Only weeks earlier, at the UN General Assembly, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had denounced nations that “openly declare terrorism as state policy” and operate “terror hubs on an industrial scale.”

“For decades now, major international terrorist attacks are traced back to that one country,” EAM Jaishankar had said, without naming Pakistan. “Those who condone nations that sponsor terror will find that it comes back to bite them.”

(With inputs from ANI)