United Nations/New Delhi, March 10: India has strongly condemned Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghan territory, calling them a “flagrant violation” of international law, the UN Charter and the principle of state sovereignty. Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, said it was “hypocritical” to invoke international law and Islamic solidarity while carrying out strikes during Ramzan that caused civilian harm.
India also voiced concern over restrictions affecting Afghanistan’s trade and transit access, describing the practice as “trade and transit terrorism” and warning that the vulnerabilities of landlocked developing countries should not be weaponised. New Delhi reiterated its support for Afghanistan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.
Parvathaneni further stressed that terrorism remains a global threat and called for coordinated international action to ensure that groups such as ISIL, Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, along with their proxies, do not carry out cross-border terrorism. He also said India would continue engaging with all stakeholders to support Afghanistan’s stability, development and humanitarian needs. India has undertaken more than 500 development projects across Afghanistan and has recently supplied vaccines and anti-cancer medicines as part of its assistance efforts.
A public UNAMA update issued on March 6 said it had verified 185 civilian casualties in Afghanistan between February 26 and March 5 — 56 killed and 129 injured — with women and children making up 55 per cent of the casualties. Reuters had earlier reported preliminary UNAMA figures of 42 civilians killed and 104 wounded in the fighting through March 2.
(Disclaimer: This report is based on a PTI copy.)