400 killed in Pak strike on Kabul hospital, India slams ‘massacre being dressed up as military op’

Over 400 people were killed and more than 250 injured in an airstrike by Pakistan on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, Afghanistan’s Taliban government said Tuesday, sharply escalating tensions between the two neighbours. Condemning the “barbaric” attack, India called it a “heinous act of aggression by Pakistan” and “a blatant assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty”. Rejecting the Afghan charge, Pakistan said it “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure” Monday night. In New Delhi, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “India unequivocally condemns Pakistan’s barbaric airstrike on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul on the night of March 16. This is a cowardly and unconscionable act of violence that has claimed the lives of a large number of civilians in a facility which can by no means be justified as a military target. Pakistan is now trying to dress up a massacre as a military operation.” “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,” he said. “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,” he said. The international community, Jaiswal said, must hold the perpetrators of this criminal act accountable and ensure that the wanton targeting by Pakistan of civilians in Afghanistan ceases without delay. “India extends its deepest condolences to the bereaved families, wishes a swift recovery to those injured, and stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan in this tragic moment. We also reiterate our unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan,” he said. This is the third statement by the Indian government in the last one month on Pakistan’s attacks on Afghanistan, but this is the sharpest statement so far. Established in 2016, the Omid hospital in Kabul has treated hundreds of people, and also provided them with vocational training such as tailoring and carpentry to make them more employable. On Tuesday, Pakistan claimed its armed forces struck a target that was “Camp Phoenix”, several kilometres away from the hospital. Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil Haq on the night of February 26, following firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border. Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, said he was “dismayed” by fresh reports of Pakistani airstrikes and civilian deaths. Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More