Abhishek Vij
The same horror witnessed during the war Israel waged against Hamas—following the terrorist attacks launched by Hamas against Israel in October 2023—is now being displayed in the ongoing conflict between Israel, the United States, and Iran. This very same horror has now been demonstrated by Pakistan as it openly wages war against Afghanistan. There are certain rules and regulations governing the conduct of war. For years, nations across the globe have adhered to these norms. The fundamental principle is that war should be fought solely between armies; while a nation’s rulers may determine strategy and policy, the conflict itself must not impact ordinary civilians, patients in hospitals, or young children attending schools.
The maelstrom of war ought to remain confined to areas outside of civilian zones. Regrettably, however, the wars currently being fought cast aside all such principles and regulations. Armed with modern, lethal weaponry, the warring nations engage in combat by raining down death with barbaric violence, showing utter disregard for human values. The dance of death spares no one—not even innocent civilians or defenseless children. Ordinary citizens fall victim to the frenzied madness of these authoritarian figures. When confronted and asked for an explanation, they flatly deny that their forces have committed any such acts.
Forces backed by Israel and the United States have laid waste to the Gaza Strip, rendering millions of people homeless. Israel maintains that it has targeted and destroyed only terrorist hideouts. Similarly, while issuing war cries against Iran, Israel and the United States dropped bombs on a girls’ school within Iranian territory.
This attack resulted in the deaths of approximately 165 innocent schoolgirls. When Mr. Trump was questioned regarding this incident, he categorically denied having any knowledge of the matter, claiming that his forces had destroyed only terrorist targets within Iran. But war hysteria knows no patience. Pakistan has now launched a war to teach Afghanistan a lesson. The Pakistani Air Force is wreaking havoc, raining bombs down upon Afghanistan. In a recent attack on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Afghanistan, Pakistan killed 408 patients and left 265 injured. Prior to this, China and several Muslim nations had appealed to Pakistan not to embroil itself in this conflict; however, in a fit of authoritarian frenzy, Pakistani military chief Asim Munir ordered his fighter jets to carry out bombing raids on Afghanistan on Monday night. Following the bombardment of the hospital, the situation was such that anyone—wherever they happened to be—was either killed on the spot or critically injured.
With immense difficulty, relief teams managed to extract the wounded from amidst the raging fires. When the Taliban government reported the deaths of 408 people, Pakistan dismissed the claim as false, asserting that only military targets had been struck.
Afghanistan’s star cricketer, Rashid Khan, has declared this act a war crime, stating that the global community must take action against Pakistan. India has condemned the Pakistani bombardment of the Kabul hospital as both cowardly and reprehensible. It asserted that targeting a hospital—or any medical facility—as a military objective cannot be justified under any pretext. Such acts constitute the murder of civilians; they pose a threat to regional peace and represent a direct assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty.
But who, here, truly cares? Pakistan is economically in shambles and politically fractured from within; to mask its internal failures, it is raining bombs upon Afghanistan—indiscriminately targeting both civilians and soldiers—even during the holy month of Ramadan, a time when the Muslim community observes peace, contemplation, and compassion. Yet, what value do peace, contemplation, and compassion hold in the eyes of war criminals?