India again tore into Pakistan over terrorism at the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar calling Islamabad the “epicentre of global terrorism.” Highlighting India’s long-standing fight against cross-border terror, he urged the international community to take firm and united action against state-sponsored terrorism.
“India has confronted this challenge since its independence, having a neighbour that is an epicentre of global terrorism. For decades now, major international terrorist attacks are traced back to that one country. UN’s designated lists of terrorists are replete with its nationals. The most recent example of cross-border barbarism was the murder of innocent tourists in Pahalgam in April this year,” Jaishankar said.
Jaishankar 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 financing of terrorism must be choked even as prominent terrorists are sanctioned. Relentless pressure must be applied on the entire terrorism ecosystem. Those who condone nations that sponsor terror will find that it comes back to bite them.”
Citing the April attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 innocent tourists were killed, Jaishankar emphasised that India acted to protect its citizens and ensured that the perpetrators of the terrorist attack were brought to justice.
“India exercised its right to defend its people against terrorism and brought its organisers and perpetrators to justice,” Jaishankar said.
India Slams Shehbaz Sharif’s UN Remarks As ‘Absurd Theatrics’
Earlier, India strongly criticised Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for his remarks at the UN General Assembly, calling them “absurd theatrics” and accusing Islamabad of glorifying terrorism while misrepresenting the India-Pakistan conflict.
During the 80th UNGA session on Friday, Shehbaz Sharif alleged that India carried out “unprovoked aggression” against Pakistan earlier this year, referring to Operation Sindoor.
India dismissed Sharif’s account of the recent clashes as “bizarre” and misleading, highlighting that Pakistan had previously harboured Osama bin Laden for a decade while pretending to cooperate in the global fight against terrorism.
Operation Sindoor
India launched Operation Sindoor in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. As part of the operation, the Indian Armed Forces conducted precision missile strikes on nine terrorist targets across Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) on May 7. The mission primarily targeted key terrorist installations, including Jaish-e-Mohammed’s stronghold in Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s base in Muridke. The strikes successfully destroyed nine terror launch pads and eliminated more than 100 terrorists.