ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will raise the recent militant attack on a school bus in the southwestern Balochistan province at the United Nations (UN) and present evidence of Indian involvement to the international community, said the country’s top diplomat at the UN on Thursday.
At least six people, including four children, were killed on Wednesday when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device targeted a school bus en route to an army-run school in the Khuzdar district.
Balochistan has witnessed a separatist insurgency for decades, though it has intensified more recently, with groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) carrying out high-casualty attacks on civilians and security forces.
Pakistan says such militant outfits are backed by India, though New Delhi denies the claim. The Indian administration also distanced itself from the Khuzdar school bus bombing, attributing such acts of violence to Pakistan’s “internal failures.”
“This was a heinous terrorist act directed against children, against students, [which is] totally unacceptable and condemnable,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told Arab News in an interview.
“Pakistan is going to share the evidence [of Indian involvement] with the members of the international community, including in the UN,” he continued.
Ahmad said Pakistan had also provided evidence of India’s involvement in “terrorist activities” in the past, adding it was going to do it again.
He maintained New Delhi had been committing “terrorism” in Pakistan both directly and through its proxies.
He informed Pakistan would present a dossier to the UN and its member states to highlight a clear pattern of Indian involvement in militant violence aimed at destabilizing Pakistan, particularly Balochistan.
“The dossier will contain information about who is involved [and] what are the linkages,” he added.
The envoy said Pakistan had, in the past, proposed the listing of Indian nationals involved in orchestrating violent activities in Pakistan.
“Some of the members of the Security Council … did not act responsibly and in fact they block such listings,” he informed, adding it was the collective responsibility of all UN members to assess the situation objectively and not protect India unnecessarily.
Asked about India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), the ambassador said Pakistan had already raised the issue at the Security Council, as the move was highly escalatory and posed an existential threat to the country.
“We discussed this … during the meeting of the Security Council that was held on 5th of May, where a number of members of the Security Council expressed concern because it is clearly viewed by the international community as a violation of international law,” he said.
