Jaishankar slams Pakistan at UNGA, calls it ‘epicentre of global terrorism’

In his address to the General Debate of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, Jaishankar said that the most recent example of Pakistan's cross-border barbarism was the Pahalgam attack.

New Delhi: Pakistan pleaded for a ceasefire after its several airbases were destroyed in attacks by India between May 9 and 10, New Delhi told the United Nations General Assembly, dismissing the claims of not only Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of the neighbouring nation, but also President Donald Trump of the United States.

India also reminded the international community that major international terrorist attacks over the decades were traced back to Pakistan.

“While asserting our rights, we must also firmly face up to threats. Countering terrorism is a particular priority because it synthesises bigotry, violence, intolerance and fear. India has confronted this challenge since its independence, having a neighbour that is an epicentre of global terrorism,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said as he addressed the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday.

A day after Sharif called the April 22 terrorist attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir “a human tragedy” and accused New Delhi of seeking to extract political gains out of it, Jaishankar referred to the “murder of innocent tourists” as “the most recent example of cross-border barbarism”. “India exercised its right to defend its people against terrorism and brought its organisers and perpetrators to justice,” he said.

A few hours after Sharif, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly, claimed victory for Pakistan in its May 7-10 military flare-up with India, New Delhi deployed one of its young diplomats, Petal Gahlot, to exercise its right to reply.

“If destroyed runways and burnt-out hangars look like victory, as the prime minister claimed, Pakistan is welcome to enjoy it,” Gahlot, a first secretary at the Permanent Mission of India at the UN, said, refuting the claims of Sharif.

Gahlot told the UNGA that Sharif had advanced a bizarre account of the recent conflict with India. “The record on this matter is clear. Till May 9, Pakistan was threatening more attacks on India. But on May 10, its military pleaded with us directly for a cessation to the fighting, she said, adding: “The intervening event was the destruction caused to multiple Pakistani airbases by Indian forces. The pictures of that damage are, of course, publicly accessible.”

Sharif on Friday went on to claim that Pakistan had turned seven of India’s fighter jets into “scrap and dust”. “The enemy came shrouded in arrogance; we sent them back in humiliation, delivering a bloody nose,” he said.

“Because terrorism is a shared threat, it is essential that there is much deeper international cooperation. When nations openly declare terrorism a state policy, when terror hubs operate on an industrial scale, and when terrorists are publicly glorified, then such actions must be unequivocally condemned,” the external affairs minister said while addressing the UNGA on Saturday. “The financing of terrorism must be choked, even as prominent terrorists are sanctioned. Relentless pressure must be applied to the entire terrorism ecosystem. Those who condone nations that sponsor terror will find that it comes back to bite them."

Gahlot, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2015, exercising New Delhi’s right to reply, accused Sharif not only of resorting to theatrics at the UNGA, but also of glorifying terrorism, which, she alleged, was central to the foreign policy of Islamabad.

“However, no degree of drama and no level of lies can conceal the facts. This is the very same Pakistan, which, at the UN Security Council on April 25, 2025, shielded ‘The Resistance Front’, a Pakistani-sponsored terror outfit, from the responsibility of carrying out the barbaric massacre of tourists in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (on April 22),” she said. “A country long steeped in the tradition of deploying and exporting terrorism has no shame in advancing the most ludicrous narratives to that end. Let us recall that it sheltered Osama bin Laden for a decade, even while pretending to partner in the war against terrorism.”

Her comment that Pakistan had directly pleaded with India for a ceasefire on May 10 was a tacit rejection of the US president’s oft-repeated claim that he had brokered the truce between the two South Asian neighbours. He had recently reiterated the claim while addressing the UNGA, disregarding New Delhi’s several rebuttals in the past. Sharif, however, called Trump “a man of peace” and, at the UNGA, lauded him for averting a war in South Asia.

“The truth is that, as in the past, Pakistan is responsible for a terrorist attack on innocent civilians in India. We have exercised the right to defend our people against such actions and have brought the organisers and perpetrators to justice,” said Gahlot, referring to the Operation Sindoor, which India launched early on May 7, targeting the terrorist camps in Pakistan and areas illegally occupied by Pakistan.

The Pakistani prime minister has spoken about wanting peace with India. “If he is indeed sincere, the pathway is clear. Pakistan must immediately shut down all terrorist camps and hand over to us the terrorists wanted in India, Gahlot said at the UNGA. “It is also ironic that a country which wallows in hate, bigotry and intolerance should preach to this Assembly on matters of faith. The political and public discourse of Pakistan reflects its true nature. Clearly, a look by them at the mirror is long overdue.”