India on Tuesday strongly condemned the Pakistani airstrike on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, which killed at least 400 people and injured around 250 others. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) described the attack as a “barbaric” and “cowardly” act of violence, asserting that Pakistan was attempting to “dress up a massacre as a military operation.”
In a statement, the MEA said the strike was “a blatant assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty and a direct threat to regional peace and stability.” The ministry added that the attack reflects “Pakistan’s persistent pattern of reckless behaviour and its repeated attempts to externalize internal failures through increasingly desperate acts of violence beyond its borders.”
The MEA also highlighted the timing of the strike during the holy month of Ramzan, calling it “all the more reprehensible” and emphasizing that “no faith, law, or morality” could justify targeting a hospital and its patients. India offered condolences to the families of the victims and wished for the recovery of the injured, reaffirming solidarity with the people of Afghanistan.
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Earlier, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish, criticized Pakistan for “fabricating imaginative tales of Islamophobia in neighbouring countries” while carrying out violent campaigns, including the airstrike in Afghanistan.
The opposition Congress party also condemned the strike. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge called the attack an “act against humanity” and urged the global community to reject such barbarism.
Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, confirmed that rescue teams were attempting to control the fire at the hospital and recover victims’ bodies. The cross-border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which resumed after a ceasefire breakdown in October, are believed to have escalated the violence.
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