United Nations: India staged a walkout from the UN General Assembly after Pakistan reacted angrily to veiled references in External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s address, effectively admitting to being branded “terroristan”.
Jaishankar, without directly naming Pakistan, told the Assembly that India had faced the challenge of terrorism since independence, living with “a neighbor that is an epicenter of global terrorism”. He added that for decades now, major international terrorist attacks are traced back to that one country”, and noted that UN lists of designated terrorists “are replete with its nationals”.
He also referred to the killing of tourists in Pahalgam in April as the most recent instance of cross-border terrorism and defended India’s right to act against such attacks. “India exercised its right to defend its people against terrorism and brought its organizers and perpetrators to justice,” he said, without naming Operation Sindoor.
Jaishankar further warned, “When nations openly declare terrorism as state policy, when terror hubs operate on an industrial scale, when terrorists are publicly glorified, then such actions must be unequivocally condemned. Those who condone nations that sponsor terror will find that it comes back to bite them.”
Pakistan’s Second Secretary at the UN Mission, Muhammad Rashid, took the floor in response, accusing Jaishankar of attempting to “malign Pakistan”. Breaking with diplomatic convention, under which countries usually refrain from responding if not explicitly named, Rashid reacted by protesting India’s use of the term “terroristan” and claimed it was a distortion of his country’s name.
India countered through its own Second Secretary, Rentala Srinivas, who remarked, “It is telling that a neighbor who was not named chose to nevertheless respond and admit their long-standing practice of cross border terrorism. Pakistan's reputation speaks for itself”, he said taking the opening. “Its fingerprints are so visible in terrorism across so many geographies, it's a menace, not only to its neighbors but to the entire world”
As Rashid continued his protest, India’s delegation walked out of the Assembly Hall.