Delhi/New York, August 20(HS):

India's Charge d'Affaires to the United Nations, Eldos Mathew Punnoos, delivered a scathing denunciation of Pakistan's longstanding and ongoing sexual violence against minority women at the UN Security Council’s Open Debate on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. Punnoos spotlighted the impunity with which the Pakistan Army committed mass sexual atrocities against hundreds of thousands of women in erstwhile East Pakistan during the 1971 war of liberation, calling it a matter of shameful record. He emphasized that this deplorable pattern persists unabated to this day, with continued reports of abduction, trafficking, forced marriages, domestic servitude, sexual violence, and forced religious conversions targeting Pakistan’s religious and ethnic minorities, including Hindus, Christians, and Ahmadiyyas.

Highlighting the disturbing role of Pakistan’s judiciary in validating these crimes, Punnoos accused Pakistan’s perpetrators of masquerading as champions of justice, calling their duplicity self-evident. He underlined the necessity of holding perpetrators accountable to prevent the lasting scars inflicted on communities by conflict-related sexual violence. India called for a multifaceted approach combining prosecution, victim support, and survivor-centric prevention and response mechanisms, aligning with UN Security Council Resolution 2467 (2019).

Punnoos also highlighted India’s leadership in addressing sexual exploitation in peacekeeping, citing India’s early contributions to the UN Secretary-General’s Trust Fund for victims, the deployment of all-women police units in UN missions, and comprehensive domestic strategies via the Nirbhaya Fund and emergency response systems for women’s safety. He offered India’s expertise and training programs to share best practices on combating sexual violence in conflict situations.

This strong Indo-Pak confrontation at the UNSC comes amid heightened tensions following recent cross-border hostilities and terror attacks, underscoring the deep-rooted historical and ongoing human rights challenges linked to Pakistan’s governance and security policies

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar