India Violated Int'l Law By Targeting Pakistani Civilian Areas In Recent Attacks, Amb. Asim Tells UNSC

UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd May, 2025) Pakistan told the UN Security Council Thursday that India's military hit civilian areas, including homes and mosques, during its recent aggression in breach of the obligation under International humanitarian law to protect civilians.

"The rights to life, dignity, and security must remain sacrosanct — even amidst the horrors of war," Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said in the course of a debate on: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.'

"Between 6 and 10 May, India committed blatant aggression against Pakistan, launching unprovoked missile, air, and drone strikes — under false pretenses and baseless allegations — in in flagrant violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and the UN Charter," he told the 15-member Council.

Civilian areas were "deliberately targeted" by Indian bombs, resulting in the deaths of 40 civilians, including 7 women and 15 children, and injuries to 121 more, including 10 women and 27 children, the Pakistani envoy said.

In contrast, he pointed out, Pakistan's response was "responsible and measured," aimed solely at military installations, and in line with the country's inherent right to self-defence under the UN Charter.

With over 120 armed conflicts raging globally, the world was witnessing rising attacks on homes, hospitals, schools, water systems, and humanitarian workers; denial of humanitarian access; and the emergence of AI-powered weapons that kill without conscience, the Pakistani envoy said.

"From Gaza's ruins to Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), from the camps of Sudan to the streets of Haiti, civilians are not collateral damage — they are the epicenter of these tragedies."

Highlighting that people in Indian-occupied Kashmir have endured over 75 years of systemic violence and repression under Indian occupation, Ambassador Asim said more than 100,000 have lost their lives, thousands disappeared without a trace, women have been subjected to sexual violence, and generations of children have grown up behind barbed wires and bunkers.

Over 900,000 Indian occupation forces continue to use excessive and indiscriminate force, extrajudicial killings, and collective punishment in what is one of the world's most militarized zones, the Pakistani envoy told delegates. Plans to alter the demographic composition of the Indian occupied territory are being pushed by the occupying authorities.

"The people of Jammu & Kashmir await the fulfillment of their right to self-determination, as enshrined in numerous Security Council resolutions."

In Gaza, Ambassador Asim added, more than two million people — 90 percent of the population — have been displaced, over 53,000 Palestinians have been killed, and some 121,000 injured.

Gaza healthcare facilities alone have been attacked over 300 times, he said, urging the Council to respond to this humanitarian catastrophe.

"Civilian suffering has been acute in other conflict zones too: from Afghanistan to Colombia, and DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), to Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine — the list is long," the Pakistani envoy said, pointing out that in 2024 alone, over 280 million people faced acute food insecurity, and more than 870 healthcare workers were killed or injured in 20 countries.

The protection of civilians in armed conflict, he said, was a binding obligation under international humanitarian law, and called for extending it to journalists, humanitarian workers, and UN personnel. And the year 2024 recorded the highest number of casualties among UN personnel and humanitarian workers, with the reported killing of 53 Journalists last year.

To effectively protect civilians in armed conflict, the Pakistani envoy offered the following recommendations:

Ensure strict compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law, as well as relevant Security Council resolutions;

-- Hold perpetrators accountable-- impunity for grave violations must end;

-- Prioritize the protection of populations under foreign occupation, including in Palestine and Kashmir;

-- Uphold obligations under Resolution 2730 to protect humanitarian workers and UN personnel;

-- Prohibit lethal autonomous weapons that remove human judgment from life-and-death decisions;

-- Establish an international framework to counter disinformation, especially AI-generated content and hate speech in conflict settings, and,

-- Address root causes of conflicts through prevention, dialogue, and dispute resolution.

Reaffirming its unwavering commitment to the protection of civilians in armed conflict, Ambassador Asim said, "We stand ready to work with all member states to ensure that no child, no mother, no civilian should ever pay with their life in a conflict." Earlier, United Nations officials and humanitarians alike warned that the international framework created to protect civilians during armed conflict is itself under attack, stressing that civilians will continue to suffer if existing laws are not enforced.

"The short version — the scaffolding built last century to protect us from inhumanity is crumbling; those who will die as a result need us to act," stated Thomas Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

He detailed the plight of civilians today: dead, deprived of essential services, forcibly displaced, subjected to rampant sexual violence, or suffering from alarming levels of conflict-driven hunger. "2024 was also the deadliest year on record for humanitarians," he added.

Spotlighting an unraveling of international law, "despite the lessons of history and clear legal commitments", Fletcher underscored that this jeopardizes the protection architecture that took decades to build. "There is, though, another path," he said, provided States act to salvage what they have built". This requires that they ensure respect for international law and support efforts to fight impunity.

He said they also must acknowledge that, even when parties comply with the law, "the scale of civilian harm can be devastating", which necessitates strong policy and operational measures to protect civilians. "Let us be remembered not for the warnings we gave, but for the action we took," he urged.

Next, Sima Bahous, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), emphasized that in the past year, we have seen bombed maternity wards, blockaded medical supplies, and massive funding cuts."

In Afghanistan, where 90 per cent of women lack access to essential healthcare services, a woman dies from preventable pregnancy-related complications every two hours. And, with bans on female workers and shrinking access to care, maternal deaths are projected to rise by 50 per cent in 2026.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, over 28,000 women and girls have been killed since October 2023, Ms. Bahous noted, adding that tens of thousands have given birth under bombardment and siege, without anaesthetics, postpartum care, or clean water."

Urging the Council to treat reproductive violence as a distinct category of harm and hold perpetrators accountable, she added that "trauma compounds over time". In Gaza, 75 per cent of women suffer from depression; women in Afghanistan describe living in open-air prisons, and domestic violence is rising in Ukraine.

"Where is the political courage to stop the killing?" asked Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"If you do not defend the rules of war today, you are accepting a world where wars are fought with increasing barbarity and disregard for our shared humanity," she underscored. "In today's conflicts, you do not have to pull the trigger to be complicit in the consequences," she added, stressing that the fourth Geneva Convention contains clear, unambiguous protections for civilians in times of armed conflict.

APP/ift