India on Saturday hit back strongly at Pakistan at the UN General Assembly, asserting that attempts by the “serial practitioner of terrorism” to normalise terrorism and claim immunity from its consequences would not succeed.
“Yesterday, a serial practitioner of terrorism misrepresented facts before this Assembly,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said while addressing the General Debate at the high-level 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
Without naming Pakistan and the address by its Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the UN on Friday, Jaishankar said arguments were invoked to "normalise terrorism, and claim immunity from its consequences."
"That will not stand," he stressed.
“Our right to defend ourselves against terrorism will be exercised,” Jaishankar said, asserting that “friendship and goodwill cannot co-exist with terrorism".
“And understandings premised on that will naturally be called into question. It is for the perpetrator of terrorism to mend its ways,” he said.
Jaishankar told world leaders that a persistent threat to peace has been the scourge of terrorism. “That this could be state-sponsored, with a cross-border purpose, makes it a direct affront to the global order,” he said.
India called for governments indulging in such practices to be held accountable. “There must be no dilution in our zero-tolerance approach towards terrorism. Its financial aspects, in particular, should be exposed and should be countered,” he said.
Sharif had used the UN General Assembly podium to credit US President Donald Trump for his "timely intervention" in the 2025 conflict against India.
In his about 23-minute address, Sharif also raised the issue of Kashmir, saying that to ensure South Asia never reaches that precipice of the conflict of 2025 ever again, a just and fair solution of the Kashmir issue is required.
(With inputs from PTI)
