At UN, India slams Pakistan over terror support: ‘World hasn’t forgotten 26/11, Pahalgam’

India has once again targeted Pakistan for its continued support to terror, underling the world has not for forgotten the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and the April 22 Pahalgam attack while reiterating that terrorism cannot be defeated without action against its financers and sponsors.

The remarks were made by Raghoo Puri, who is India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN), while exercising Delhi’s Right of Reply in response to the Pakistan representative’s statement in the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly on the Agenda Item: Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism.

Puri said Pakistan has presented itself as a victim but has created Frankensteins that “has created and lost control over have moved from wreaking havoc in neighbouring countries”.

“Yet, we also remember that just a few months ago, Pakistani representatives used this forum to call the Jaish-e-Mohammed a defunct organisation. The world has seen the script play earlier, and we are clear-eyed that this time also it is going to be no different,” he said.

Puri said that when the media can reach Azhar and get confirmation from him about the success of Operation Sindoor, “surely the Pakistani state knows his whereabouts”.

Pakistan was placed under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list between 2018 and 2022 for its systemic deficiencies in anti-money laundering and its failure to counter-terror financing.

Puri also recalled a recent statement by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, daughter of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who had said, “The unfortunate thing is that the threat [Punjab] faces comes less from my neighbouring countries and more from my neighbouring provinces.”

Exposing this “dark secret”, Puri said, “You cannot run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. Reality never works like that.”

“When terrorist groups are allowed to operate under state political power, international commitments become meaningless and when perpetrators are provided safe havens, the victims of terrorism are denied justice,” he said.

“The world has not forgotten 9/11 and where its perpetrators, including Osama bin Laden, were caught. The world has not forgotten 26/11. The world has not forgotten Pahalgam,” Puri said, adding that the list, “unfortunately”, is painfully long.

“The victims in Pahalgam were not asked about their political orientation, they were asked about their religion. It is therefore deeply ironic that Pakistan speaks of combating religious hatred while allowing the conditions that enable it to persist and thrive, especially by fomenting cross-border terrorism,” he said.

“Pakistan continues with its narrative building, misinformation, and disinformation. If bombed-out airfields and cratered runways look like victory to Pakistan, they are of course welcome to enjoy it,” Puri said.

“Any regime against terrorism to be effective must do two things: assign responsibility and ensure accountability. India will defend its people, and continued terrorism against India will have consequences,” he added.

In another Right of Reply, Puri said India rejected Pakistan’s “circular economy” of words and narratives.

“If this much effort had actually been made in countering terrorism rather than narrative building, misinformation, and disinformation, the world would have been a better place. But nothing more can be expected from a Form 47 government,” he said, referring to a term used to describe allegations of rigging and manipulation in Pakistan’s 2024 general elections.   

(With PTI inputs)

ALSO READ:

IAF chief recalls Operation Sindoor, says world saw India’s ‘destructive power’ firsthand