'No impunity to terrorists, no yielding to nuclear blackmail': EAM Jaishankar at UN

United Nations: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday urged the global community to unite in ensuring that terrorists face no impunity, are not treated as proxies, and that there is "no yielding to nuclear blackmail", as he asserted that India's response to the Pahalgam attack underlines a message of zero tolerance towards terrorism.

Jaishankar, who is on a three-day visit to the US, made the remarks while inaugurating an exhibition titled ‘The Human Cost of Terrorism’ at the UN headquarters.

The exhibition, which will be on display at two locations in the UN headquarters from June 30-July 3 and July 7-July to 11, opened a day before Pakistan begins its Presidency of the UN Security Council for July on Tuesday.

Referring to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, Jaishankar said five weeks ago, the United Nations Security Council issued a “strong condemnation” of a “particularly horrific act of terrorism” in Pahalgam and demanded that its perpetrators be held accountable and brought to justice.

“We have since seen that happen. What that response underlines is a larger significance of the message of zero tolerance for terrorism. The world must come together on some basic concepts -- no impunity to terrorists, no treating them as proxies, and no yielding to nuclear blackmail,” he said.

About two weeks after the Pahalgam attack in which 26 civilians were killed, India launched Operation Sindoor targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

“Any state sponsorship must be exposed and must be countered,” Jaishankar said, adding, “By now we know well that terrorism anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere. Let that understanding guide our collective thinking and response.” The EAM said terrorism is one of the gravest threats to humanity.

"It is the antithesis of everything that the UN stands for -- human rights, rules and norms and how nations should conduct their dealings with each other,” he said.

“When terrorism is supported by a state against the neighbour, when it is fuelled by the bigotry of extremism, when it drives a whole host of illegal activities, it is imperative to call it out publicly and one way of doing so is to display the havoc that it has wreaked on global society,” Jaishankar said, addressing the large number of UN ambassadors, senior UN personnel, officials and envoys who attended the opening of the exhibition.

The digital exhibition displays the horrific terror attacks perpetrated across the world -- from the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks to the April 22 Pahalgam attacks -- and names the terror outfits responsible for carrying out the attacks, including several Pakistan-based entities and individuals.

In his remarks, Jaishankar said it is with a “sense of solemnity that we have gathered” here for the exhibition that highlights the human cost of terrorism.

“This exhibition is a modest yet resolute effort to give voice to those who can no longer speak, a tribute to those who were taken away from us and a remembrance of the lives shattered by the scourge of terrorism,” he said, adding that the images and visuals in the exhibition, each moment, each memory, each artifact and every word tells the story of a life interrupted and altered.

The minister stressed that the pain of the families of the victims of terrorism “is a stark reminder of the urgency of our shared responsibility to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”.

He said that here at the UN, “we must not just remember” but “commit ourselves” to act, protect and uphold the very values and human rights that terrorism seeks to destroy.

In a post on X, Jaishankar said, “Joined the inauguration of exhibition on ‘The Human Cost of Terrorism’ @UN Headquarters in New York this morning.

“Appreciated UN Security Council’s strong condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack, and the need to hold its perpetrators accountable.” He said the exhibition is a larger message of zero tolerance for terrorism, entailing: "No impunity to terrorists; No treating terrorists as proxies; No yielding to nuclear blackmail; sponsorship of terrorism must be exposed and countered;Terrorism anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere." “Also underlined the shared and urgent responsibility of the global community to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” Jaishankar said in the X post.