ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plans to lodge a complaint against India at the United Nations, accusing it of “eco-terrorism” over air strikes that damaged pine trees, a government minister said on Friday.
New Delhi and Islamabad are amidst their biggest stand-off in many years, with the United States and other global powers mediating to de-escalate tensions between arch-foes.
Indian warplanes on Tuesday bombed Jabba, a hilly forest area near the northern town of Balakot, about 40km from occupied Kashmir.
Climate Change Minister Malik Amin Aslam said Indian jets bombed a “forest reserve” and the government was undertaking an environmental impact assessment, which will be the basis a complaint at the United Nations and other forums.
“What happened over there is environmental terrorism,” Aslam said, adding that dozens of pine trees had been felled. “There has been serious environmental damage.”
Two Reuters reporters who visited the site of the bombings, where four large craters could be seen, said up to 15 pine trees had been brought down by the blasts. Villagers also dismissed Indian claims that hundreds of militants were killed.
The United Nations states that “destruction of the environment, not justified by military necessity and carried out wantonly, is clearly contrary to existing international law”, according to the UN General Assembly resolution 47/37.