India tells UN Pakistan cannot lecture on rule of law under Army dominance

India hit back at Pakistan at the United Nations on Friday over its remarks on the rule of law, saying Islamabad cannot deliver "lectures" on the subject when "Army is the rule, and Army is the law" in the country. India exercised its Right of Reply after Pakistan spoke during a discussion in the UN General Assembly's Sixth Committee on 'Rule of Law at and Levels'.

India's Counsellor in the Permanent Mission to the UN, R. Mythili, accused Pakistan of weakening judicial independence, arbitrarily jailing former prime minister Imran Khan, preventing a popular party from contesting elections, and curbing rights and press freedom. She also rejected Pakistan's allegations against India on religious minorities and defended Operation Sindoor as a "measured, proportionate, and focused response" to the Pahalgam terror attack.

"It is ironic to hear lectures on rule of law from a nation whose own record makes a mockery of it," Mythili said. She added that Pakistan claims at the UN to defend the rule of law while its Army effectively determines it at home.

"A state that places its military rulers beyond the reach of its own courts is in no position to lecture on the rule of law in this committee," she said, describing Pakistan's 26th Constitutional Amendment as a "real blow" to judicial independence. The amendment made way for significant institutional changes in the structure and functioning of Pakistan's judicial system.

Mythili also targeted Pakistan over the imprisonment of Imran Khan, saying a regime where no government has been allowed to complete an elected term, and where an ex-prime minister is arbitrarily jailed and denied medical treatment despite its own Supreme Court's direction, makes a "mockery of the rule of law". She further accused Pakistan of preventing a popular party from contesting elections, sentencing civilians through military courts, muzzling Supreme Court judges and crushing human rights. "I say only one thing to my Pakistani colleague: Listen to your people," she said.

In a further statement, Mythili said Pakistan's accusations were an attempt to divert attention from its own record on minority rights and press freedom. She called Pakistan's allegations over India's treatment of religious minorities a "tactical diversion" from its own conduct towards minorities, whose share in its population, she said, has been constantly shrinking since the country came into being.

She also referred to Pakistan's new Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, which require a no objection certificate for assignments outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. "And in such a country, what can possibly be the state of the fourth pillar of democracy?" she said, adding that those in power have an obligation under the rule of law towards the people they govern, a promise Pakistan has repeatedly broken. Mythili said India does not have an obsession with Pakistan, but that it was the other way round.

Defending Operation Sindoor, launched by India in May 2025 against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Mythili called it a "measured, proportionate, and focused response to a gruesome terror attack". "As far as the result of the same is concerned, if bombed airfields and destroyed hangars are victory, they are welcome to enjoy it," she said.

Mythili said repeatedly reading out what she described as a "laundry list of false allegations" against India would not absolve Pakistani representatives of promises made to their people which, she alleged, they had no intention of keeping. Overall, India's reply at the UN centred on Pakistan's record on the rule of law, minority rights and press freedom, while rejecting its allegations against India and defending Operation Sindoor.

With PTI Inputs

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