On Tuesday, India criticized Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council. India said that Pakistan “bombs its own people.”

During a discussion on Women, Peace, and Security, India’s UN ambassador, Parvathaneni Harish, said that Pakistan carries out “systematic genocide.” He also said Pakistan tries to distract the world using false claims and exaggerations. These remarks came soon after a Pakistani official claimed that Kashmiri women have faced sexual violence for many years.

“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 Women, Peace and Security agenda is unblemished and unscathed,” Harish said.

‘Messengers of Peace’

Quoting External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, he described women peacekeepers as “messengers of peace” and highlighted India’s pioneering contributions to the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. These include the deployment of women medical officers to the Congo in the 1960s, one of the earliest instances of women in UN peacekeeping; the first-ever all-female Formed Police Unit in Liberia, which inspired local women to join law enforcement; the appointment of Dr. Kiran Bedi as the first female Police Advisor and Head of the UN Police Division in 2003; and offering the services of the Center for UN Peacekeeping in New Delhi to train and build capacities of women peacekeepers, particularly from the Global South.