India Criticizes Pakistan at UNGA, Calls Out ‘Cross-Border Terrorism’

India launched a sharp rebuke of Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, framing Islamabad’s reaction to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s remarks on terrorism as an implicit admission of its “longstanding practice of cross-border terrorism.”

Jaishankar, without naming Pakistan, had said during the UNGA General Debate: “Major international terrorist attacks are traced back to that one country,” referring to a “neighbour that is an epicentre of global terrorism” and noting that India has confronted terrorism since independence.

Pakistan’s delegate, in a Right of Reply, accused India of attempting to “malign” Pakistan with malicious allegations, calling the remarks a “deliberate attempt to repeat lies.”

In response, India said it was “telling that a neighbour who was not named chose to nevertheless respond and admit their longstanding practice of cross-border terrorism.”

“No arguments or untruths can ever whitewash the crimes of terroristan!” Rentala Srinivas, Second Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said, adding that Pakistan’s fingerprints are evident in terrorism across multiple regions and that it remains a threat not only to its neighbours but to the world. Srinivas walked out of the hall when Pakistan’s delegate attempted a rebuttal.