UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan sharply criticised India during the United Nations Security Council’s annual debate on the protection of civilians, accusing New Delhi of sponsoring terrorism, suppressing minorities and violating international law.
Responding to remarks made by India during the debate on Tuesday, Pakistani Counsellor Saima Saleem said India was attempting to portray itself as a victim while concealing what she described as its own record of regional aggression and human rights abuses.
India is a country that exports terrorism abroad, occupies people by force, persecutes minorities at home, weaponizes water, commits aggression in the region, and then tries to lecture others on the protection of civilians.
While Pakistan stands for peace, dialogue, peaceful… pic.twitter.com/vMPmALtNO4
— Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN (@PakistanUN_NY) May 21, 2026
“Today, India once again came to this Council wearing the mask of a victim — but the world can see the face behind that mask,” she said.
Saleem accused India of supporting militant violence against Pakistan through groups including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Majeed Brigade.
“India’s state-sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan is not abstract; it has a human cost. Its terrorist proxies — including the TTP, BLA and Majeed Brigade have killed thousands of civilians,
including women and children in our mosques, markets, schools and streets,” she told the Council.
Referring to Pakistan’s recent counterterrorism operations, the Pakistani diplomat said the actions were based on “credible intelligence” and specifically targeted militant hideouts, training camps and logistical infrastructure used to launch attacks inside Pakistan.
“Pakistan carried out precise, deliberate and professional counterterrorism operations against terrorist hideouts, training camps, ammunition storage sites, and support networks used to plan and launch attacks against Pakistani civilians, security forces and infrastructure,” she said.
These operations were directed solely against terrorists and their infrastructure, not against the brotherly people of Afghanistan or civilian facilities, she added.
She rejected allegations made by the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan and what she described as their “Indian patrons,” calling them part of a “disinformation campaign.”
“We can sense India’s disappointment, as its investments in the use of Afghan terrorist franchise against Pakistan are going to waste due to our effective counter-terrorism operations,” she said.
Saleem also raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, describing it as an internationally recognised dispute that remains on the agenda of the Security Council.
She accused India of carrying out repression in the territory through detentions, demolitions and restrictions on freedoms, while denying Kashmiris their right to self-determination.
India can neither conceal nor deny its occupation of Jammu and Kashmir — an internationally recognised dispute that remains on the agenda of this Council,” she said and added that in the occupied territory, civilians are killed, detained, dispossessed and silenced; homes are demolished, freedoms are crushed, and an entire people are denied their right to self determination.
Saleem also criticised India’s treatment of minorities, saying the situation should “alarm the conscience of the world,” particularly regarding what she described as the persecution of Muslims under state-backed Hindutva extremism.
She said Islamophobia had increasingly become institutionalised, with hate speech gaining political acceptance, mob violence occurring with impunity, and discrimination affecting Muslims as well as other minority communities, including Sikhs, Dalits and Christians.
Saleem also referred to India’s decision regarding the Indus Waters Treaty, saying any move threatening Pakistan’s water security violated international law and endangered civilian livelihoods.
“A State that threatens the water, food security and livelihoods of millions of Pakistanis cannot certainly speak of civilian protection,” she said.
Concluding her remarks, the Pakistani diplomat said Islamabad remained committed to peace, dialogue and the peaceful resolution of disputes under the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions.
“Pakistan remains a peace loving and international law-abiding nation that seeks harmonious relations with all countries in its neighbourhood and beyond,” she said.
