‘I Now Respond’: India’s UN Envoy Rebukes Pakistan Over Operation Sindoor Narrative

India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Harish Parvathaneni, strongly criticized Pakistan for presenting what he called a “false and self-serving” account of Operation Sindoor, stating that Islamabad had pleaded with the Indian military for a ceasefire.

Responding to remarks by Pakistan’s UN ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Parvathaneni said Pakistan follows a single-point agenda aimed at harming India and its citizens.

He was speaking at the UN Security Council’s open debate on “Reaffirming International Rule of Law: Pathways to Reinvigorating Peace, Justice, and Multilateralism,” where Ahmad referred to Operation Sindoor, Jammu and Kashmir, and the Indus Waters Treaty.

“I now respond to the comments of the representative of Pakistan, an elected member of the Security Council, which has a single-point agenda to harm my country and my people,” Parvathaneni said. “He has advanced a false and self-serving account of Operation Sindoor in May last year.”

Operation Sindoor

Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian armed forces on May 7, 2025, in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 26 people.

The operation targeted nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and reportedly resulted in the deaths of more than 100 terrorists.

India Rebuts Pakistan’s Claims

Ahmad told the UNSC that Pakistan’s response to Operation Sindoor showed that there could be no “new normal” based on coercion or impunity.

Parvathaneni countered that Pakistan had continued threatening attacks on India until May 9, 2025, and that on May 10, the Pakistani military directly contacted Indian authorities to seek a halt to the fighting.

“The destruction caused to multiple Pakistani air bases, including images of destroyed runways and burnt-out hangars, is in the public domain,” he said. “We have heard talk about a ‘new normal.’”

He added that tolerating Pakistan’s continued use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy could never be considered normal, and warned that the UN must not become a platform to legitimize terrorism.

Jammu and Kashmir

The Indian envoy asserted that Pakistan had “no locus standi” to comment on India’s internal affairs and reaffirmed that Jammu and Kashmir “has been, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.”

Indus Waters Treaty

Parvathaneni said India had signed the Indus Waters Treaty 65 years ago in good faith and with a spirit of friendship, but accused Pakistan of violating its spirit through wars and terrorist attacks.

“Thousands of Indian lives have been lost in Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks,” he said.

He added that India was forced to place the treaty in abeyance until Pakistan, which he described as a “global epicentre of terror,” permanently ended its support for cross-border terrorism.

India’s Message to Pakistan

Advising Islamabad to reflect on the rule of law, Parvathaneni said Pakistan should begin by examining how its military was allowed to carry out what he described as a constitutional coup through the 27th Amendment.

He also criticized the provision granting lifetime legal immunity to Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces, Asim Munir, following the amendment passed in November under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“Pakistan is well-advised to introspect about the rule of law,” Parvathaneni said.