India Slams Pakistan at UNHRC Over Terrorism, Economic Collapse, and Human Rights Abuses

India delivered a sharp rebuttal to Pakistan at the 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, accusing Islamabad of misusing the global platform to peddle “baseless and provocative” claims while ignoring its own internal crises.

Speaking on behalf of the Indian delegation, Kshitij Tyagi, Counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, lambasted Pakistan’s human rights record, economic freefall, and military-dominated political system. He called on Islamabad to “vacate Indian territory under its illegal occupation” and redirect its focus inward, toward restoring democratic governance and ending its support for terrorism.

Indian Diplomat Kshitij Tyagi

“A delegation that epitomises the antithesis of this approach continues to abuse this forum with baseless and provocative statements against India,” Tyagi said. “Instead of coveting our territory, they would do well to vacate the Indian territory under their illegal occupation and focus on rescuing an economy on life support, a polity muzzled by military dominance, and a human rights record stained by persecution—perhaps once they find time away from exporting terrorism, harbouring UN-proscribed terrorists, and bombing their own people.”

Tyagi’s remarks came just a day after local media in Pakistan reported that at least 30 civilians were killed in an overnight airstrike in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, raising questions about internal security operations and accountability within Pakistan’s borders.

Kshitij Tyagi, Indian diplomat at UNHRC takes a swipe at Pakistan for bombing its own territory in KPK pic.twitter.com/5UBP9vC8x1

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Reasserting India’s position, Tyagi said the Human Rights Council must uphold its founding principles of objectivity, universality, and non-selectivity. He warned against the growing trend of country-specific mandates, arguing that they risk politicizing the Council’s work and undermining its legitimacy.

“We are concerned by the continued proliferation of country-specific mandates,” he said. “Far from advancing the Council’s core mandate, they reinforce perceptions of bias and selectivity. Focusing narrowly on the human rights situation in a few countries distracts us from the urgent and shared challenges the world faces.”

India reiterated that real and lasting progress on human rights must come through “dialogue, cooperation, and capacity-building—always with the consent of the State concerned.”

At a time of global upheaval, Tyagi urged that the Council prioritize consensus-building over confrontation. “The Council’s work should be channelised into forging consensus through a non-politicised and forward-looking approach,” he said.

The exchange showed rising tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, with India once again asserting its sovereignty and accusing Pakistan of using international institutions as platforms for misinformation and political theatre.