Pak Strike on Kabul Hospital Killing 400: India Calls It Despicable
The statement accused Pakistan of attempting to portray a massacre as a military operation
New Delhi: Escalating its ongoing military conflict with Afghanistan, Pakistan on Monday night carried out airstrikes on the Afghan capital Kabul. The ruling Afghan Taliban government accused Islamabad of bombing a rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, killing at least 400 people. India on Tuesday condemned the "barbaric airstrike” on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul and accused Pakistan of "trying to dress up a massacre as a military operation".
Afghan Taliban-led government deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said that Monday night's bombardment by Pakistan targeted a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, which resulted in the death of at least 400 people and left 250 others injured. Following the Pakistani airstrikes, according to media reports, Afghan authorities were scrambling to pull survivors out of the rubble and debris.
Pakistan, however, claimed it had carried out “precision airstrikes” targeting what it described as terrorists and their support infrastructure locations across Afghanistan. The latest strikes came as Operation Ghazab lil Haq, launched on February 26, continued, according to Pakistan's ministry of information and broadcasting. Pakistan launched the operation in response to alleged attacks by the Afghan Taliban forces along the 2,600-km-long border.
Condemning Pakistan's airstrike as "barbaric" and a “cowardly and unconscionable act of violence”, India, in a statement issued, said, “This heinous act of aggression by Pakistan is also a blatant assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty and a direct threat to regional peace and stability. It reflects Pakistan’s persistent pattern of reckless behaviour and its repeated attempts to externalise internal failures through increasingly desperate acts of violence beyond its borders.”
“That this attack was carried out during the holy month of Ramzan, a time of peace, reflection, and mercy among Muslim communities across the world, makes it all the more reprehensible. There is no faith, no law, and no morality that can justify the deliberate targeting of a hospital and its patients. The international community must hold the perpetrators of this criminal act accountable and ensure that the wanton targeting by Pakistan of civilians in Afghanistan ceases without delay,” New Delhi said.
New Delhi pointed out that the Pakistani air strikes “claimed the lives of a large number of civilians in a facility which can by no means be justified as a military target”, adding that “Pakistan is now trying to dress up a massacre as a military operation”.
“India extends its deepest condolences to the bereaved families… We also reiterate our unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan,” New Delhi added.
India had, last week and earlier last month too, condemned the Pakistani air strikes on Afghanistan and termed them “yet another act of aggression by a Pakistani establishment that remains hostile to the idea of a sovereign Afghanistan”. New Delhi had pointed out that Islamabad’s actions “led to the death of several civilians, including women and children, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure” and “reiterated that Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity should be fully respected”.
The Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and Pakistan had agreed to a fragile ceasefire in October last following deadly cross-border clashes, but clashes broke out again between the two neighbours last month. Ties between Islamabad and its erstwhile protégé, the Afghan Taliban, have been deteriorating steadily over the past few years after deadly attacks on Pakistani security forces by Pakistan-based militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
