Pakistan admits to targeting India’s aid to Afghanistan, attacks during Ramadan hurting women, children

United Nations: Pakistan has made a tacit admission that it was targeting India’s assistance to Afghanistan and that its air attacks during Ramadan were hurting mostly women and children.

Employing diplomatic finesse, India’s Permanent Representative in his address to the Security Council on Monday had not named Pakistan while criticising the air attacks on Afghanistan or cross-border terrorism.

But Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad walked into his trap by acknowledging the remarks were about his country.

He made an admission of the criticism directed against Islamabad over cross-border terrorism directed against India and of conducting air attacks on Afghanistan, killing mostly women and children.

He also made the damning admission of destroying India’s assistance to Afghanistan when he said that India was pained at seeing its heavy investments going to waste “as a result of Pakistan’s precise and effective action”.

While it was clear from the context who Harish was referring to, in usual diplomatic practice, countries do not respond to criticism in which they are not named, as it would amount to acknowledging they were the ones being accused.

Not naming a country in the criticism gives them an out, and Pakistan chose not to take it.

Harish had the last laugh, telling Ahmad, “Pakistan would do well to look in the mirror and look at problems with him rather than blame my country for what he faces”.

In a short retort to Ahmad’s lengthy right of reply statement, Harish said he expected “the laundry list that is regurgitated ad nauseam at every meeting of the Council and wastes the time of this august body is well known”.

During his address to the Council, Harish had said, “It is hypocritical to espouse high principles of international law and Islamic solidarity on the one hand, while mercilessly carrying out air strikes during the holy month of Ramadan”.

Those “have killed 185 innocent civilians as of March 6, 2026, around 55 per cent of whom are women and children”, he added.

Harish also called for international action against terrorism.

“Terrorism remains a global scourge afflicting humanity, and only coordinated efforts of the international community would ensure that ISIL (Islamic State) and Al Qaida and their affiliates, including the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed and proxies of LeT such as The Resistance Front, along with those who facilitate their operations, no longer indulge in cross-border terrorism”, he said.

Ahmad admitted that the criticism was against it.

He asserted that because “India’s animosity towards Pakistan” and the “Afghan policy being to destabilise Pakistan” coincided, “the remarks of the Indian representative come as no surprise”.

Harish spoke at length about the massive aid that India is giving Afghanistan in all areas, from food and medicine to education and women’s entrepreneurship.

He said over the past four-and-a-half years, India has sent Afghanistan over 50,000 tonnes of wheat, 380 tonnes of medicines and vaccines, and 40,000 litres of pesticides.

Since 2023, about 3,000 — about 1,000 of them women — have received scholarships, while India continues to provide financial and logistical support to women-led self-help groups, he said.

But Ahmad twisted the humanitarian assistance to Pakistan and said, “One can sense India’s pain in seeing its heavy investment in the Afghan terrorist franchise going to waste as a result of Pakistan’s precise and effective action against terrorist camps and support bases inside Afghanistan”.

In Pakistan’s twisted way, that was an admission that it was trying to destroy India’s humanitarian help.

Harish said in his reply, “India’s assistance is directed at the friendly people of Afghanistan. What we have done in Afghanistan is known to the people of Afghanistan and to the international community.”

While speaking of India’s assistance to Afghanistan, Harish joined in the Afghan people’s joy in their cricket team’s participation in the World Cup Cricket.

“The Afghanistan Cricket Team has been winning hearts wherever they have been playing, and their spirit and passion in the just concluded Cricket World Cup was notable,” he said.

“My nation is proud to be part of their journey and happy to see them bring immense joy to the people of Afghanistan who are enduring so much,” he said.

IANS