May 7 Aggression: India’s Breach, Pakistan’s Right!

Author: Noureen Akhtar

May 7, 2025 India launched an unprovoked military strike against Pakistan, hitting nine civilian and religious sites. Under the pretext of the April 22 Pahalgam incident in Indian occupied Kashmir, this is a direct act of aggression in violation of international law. A flagrant breach of the United Nations Charter, an open defiance of basic norms of human rights, and fundamental principles of state sovereignty. India acts illegally by violating the Geneva Conventions, customary international law and long standing bilateral agreements like the Indus Waters Treaty.

It is not a one off explosion of aggression. It’s an ideologically motivated policy, rooted deep down in the Hindutva doctrine of systematically destabilising Pakistan. With a history of violations of its territorial integrity, supporting terrorism, subversion across the border, and weaponization of water, Pakistan is a nuclear armed Islamic republic seeking peace. Hence, India’s latest military action is not about any one incident; it amounts to the continuation of a sustained, deliberate campaign of hostility.

Historical precedent substantiates this pattern. The Indian intervention in East Pakistan in 1971 violated Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, specifically, the principle of non-intervention. In the brutal 1999 Kargil conflict, manipulative narratives framed the disquisition as to how the military engaged the conflict. They are even offering an adumbration into how India used its so called ‘surgical strikes’ of 2016 and 2019, for purposes of domestic political propaganda aimed at generating popular support at home, and regional warfare abroad. India’s backing of espionage and terrorism within Pakistan, and openly flouting international norms, including UN General Assembly Resolution 49/60 and advisory principles put forth by the International Court of Justice, has been proven damningly in the case of a serving Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jhadav who was arrested in 2016.

India has been accused of supporting and arming terrorist groups in Balochistan and former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Compelling evidence of Indian complicity in violations of UNSC Resolutions 1373 and 1566, which also specifically prohibit financing and support of non‐state actors is contained in Pakistan dossiers submitted to the United Nations and other partners. These actions have washed away the paradigm of terrorism as an instrument of Indian foreign policy and eroded the foundations of State trust domestic and internationally while fighting transnational extremism.

By itself, the May 7 attack is a violation of several precepts of international law. The use of force against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a state or use of force opposing any political or any other act of force is forbidden under Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, while Article 51 permits Pakistan to defend itself if it under attack. In addition to bombing civilian homes and religious sites, India has also violated key protections under the Geneva Conventions, specifically Additional Protocol I, which prohibits attacking civilian and sacred spaces. Under international humanitarian law and customary legal norms reaffirmed in ICJ decisions (Nicaragua v), these acts would constitute war crimes. United States ruling of 1986.

India has weaponized water too, threatening to undermine foundational foundations of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in addition to kinetic aggression. Repeated Article 3, Article 4, and Article 7 treaty violations, combined with threats to alter river flows, weaken the region and violate Pakistan’s water rights under international law. A contravention of pacta sunt servanda, which is enshrined in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties’s requirement for states to honour treaty obligations in good faith, these actions must also contravene. Nevertheless, the utilisation of water for waging war as a strategic weapon also conflicts with the Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD), an environmental crime. The consequences of not correcting the damage are severe, putting millions of Pakistani lives and livelihoods on the line by threatening agriculture, food security, and ability to procure clean drinking water.

Importantly, India’s unlawful acts also bring a new legal and moral impetus for internationalizing the Kashmir dispute. Article 370 was revoked in 2019 and the Indian-occupied state of Jammu and Kashmir has since been subject to well documented human rights violations including enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, and demographic engineering by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and respected international NGOs. Relevant UN Security Council Resolutions such as 47, 51, 80 and 91, which ask for a plebiscite to decide the will of the Kashmiri people, must be reminded of the world. There is now no longer a diplomatic choice for Pakistan to raise the Kashmir issue; this is legal as well as humanitarian necessity.

It must now be time for Pakistan to turn the tactical tables on India by activating a full motorcade of legal and diplomatic moves in response to India’s latest breach. According to Article 51 of the UN charter, Pakistan should notify the United Nation Security Council legally of the aggression and affirm their legitimate right to proportional self defence. If the Security Council is politically gridlocked, Pakistan can put the issue to the General Assembly under the Uniting for Peace resolution. In parallel, India’s crimes in international war and treaty violations must be brought before the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. The support for these legal measures should be backed up by a long term diplomatic drive involving OIC, SCO, China, Turkiye and more generally other strategic partners to condemn India’s actions.

No less important is building out the narrative encompassing these facts, documented by media and legal institutions, linking Indian perpetrators with terrorism, war crimes, environmental aggression and beyond. At the same time, contemporary preparation of a proportional and lawful military response should be proceeded upon according to the principles of necessity and proportionality in international law.

The May 7 aggression, ultimately, is a final product of India’s repeated infringements of international norms and bilateral obligations. Pakistan’s place, however, is firmly established in law, justice and ethical clarity. It has the right to self-defence which it does not simply enshrine in the UN Charter but it has actually in decades of legal precedent. Unchecked Indian militarism endangers not only Pakistan but regional and international peace. The Indian government must be told this. As a result, now is the time to stand up for the credibility of international law itself not just territory. Pakistan’s demand for justice, sovereignty and security must be heard, and upheld.