New York: India on Tuesday sharply criticised Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), describing it as a country that “bombs its own people” and conducts “systematic genocide.”

Speaking during the Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, said Pakistan attempts to “distract the world with misdirection and hyperbole,” responding to claims by a Pakistani official that Kashmiri women have “endured sexual violence for decades.”

“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. 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," he said, referring to Pakistan.

The Indian envoy said that Pakistan 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.

"The world sees through Pakistan's propaganda,” Harish said.

The Indian envoy cited Pakistan’s Operation Searchlight in 1971, highlighting a “systematic campaign” of genocidal mass rape of 400,000 women by its own army. “The world sees through Pakistan’s propaganda,” he said.

India had similarly criticised Pakistan last week at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, describing it as a country with one of the “world’s worst human rights records.” Speaking during the 60th session of the council, Counsellor KS Mohammed Hussain said: “Their attempts to misuse this august forum with fabricated allegations against India only expose their hypocrisy. Instead of making baseless propaganda, they should confront the rampant state-sponsored persecution and systemic discrimination (of religious and ethnic minorities) that plague their own society.”

Hussain urged Pakistan to address the “rampant state-sponsored persecution and systemic discrimination of religious and ethnic minorities” within its own society. India has repeatedly maintained that Jammu and Kashmir “was, is and shall forever” remain an integral part of the country.

PTI inputs