United Nations, Oct 7 (IANS) India has reminded the world of Pakistan’s campaign of “genocidal mass rape” of women in Bangladesh during its Independence struggle as Islamabad tried to divert attention from its record through “misdirection and hyperbole”.
“This 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”, India’s Permanent Representative P Harish told the Security Council on Monday, reacting to Pakistan’s attempt to bring up Kashmir during a debate on Women, Peace and Security.
“The world sees through Pakistan’s propaganda”, he said.
The reminder of Pakistan’s atrocities in Bangladesh came as the Dakha regime led by Mohammad Yunus responded to Islamabad’s overtures.
Harsh said that Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Asim Iftikar Ahmad’s criticism of India was a “delusional tirade” bringing in Jammu and Kashmir, “the Indian territory they covet”.
“A country that bombs its own people, conducts systematic genocide, can only attempt to distract the world with misdirection and hyperbole”, Harish said.
Pakistan inserts its view of Kashmir into almost every discussion at the UN, regardless of the topic, even though none of the other 192 countries take up its Kashmiri cause.
Although Ahmad accused India of repression in Pakistan, his country’s security forces killed at least 12 people last week in the part of Kashmir it occupies during Islamabad’s campaign to brutally crush demands for government reform.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres referred to the landmark resolution adopted by the Security Council 25 years ago this month that elevated women’s role in preventing conflicts, and in peace negotiations and peace-building.
He said that there has been progress since then and women have “led local mediation, shaped new laws, and advanced justice for survivors of gender-based violence”.
The number of women peacekeepers has doubled, and gender provisions in peace agreements have become more common, he said.
“But gains are fragile and – very worryingly – going in reverse”, he said.
“Around the globe, we see troubling trends in military spending, more armed conflicts, and more shocking brutality against women and girls”, he added.
Harish called the adoption of the Council resolution a “transformative moment that fundamentally reshaped our understanding of peace and security — recognising that sustainable peace cannot be achieved without the full and equal participation of women”.
He said that India’s commitment to the principles behind the resolution predated its adoption by several decades.
Indian medical officers pioneered in women’s participation in peacekeeping, joining the UN operations in Congo in 1960.
And in 2007, India contributed the first all-female Formed Police Unit in the UN’s history, he said.
Deployed in Liberia, the unit “catalysed a transformation in Liberian society, inspiring local women to join law enforcement and participate actively in rebuilding their nation”.
Kiran Bedi, who was the first woman officer of the Indian Police Service, also made history at the UN as its first female Police Advisor and head of the United Nations Police Division in 2003, he said.
“It is no longer a question of whether women can do peacekeeping; rather, it is whether peacekeeping can do without women”, Harish said.
India has invested in building up women’s leadership in peacekeeping through the Indian Army’s Center for United Nations Peacekeeping in New Delhi, he said.
The Center launched a special course in 2016 for women military officers, and officers from dozens of countries have participated in it, he said.
–IANS
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