India Walks Out Of UNGA After Pakistan Admits To Being ‘Terroristan’

Addressing the UN General Assembly, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar urged the global community to confront terrorism collectively.

Without naming Pakistan, he said, “India has confronted this challenge since independence, having a neighbour that is an epicentre of global terrorism.”

He added that major international terrorist attacks have consistently been traced back to ‘that one country’, and the UN’s designated terror lists were filled with its nationals.

Jaishankar also hinted at recent incidents, citing “the murder of innocent tourists in Pahalgam in April this year” as an example of cross-border terrorism.

Defending India’s right to self-defence, he stated, “India exercised its right to defend its people against terrorism and brought its organisers and perpetrators to justice.”

In a pointed response, Pakistan’s Second Secretary Muhammad Rashid exercised the right of reply, accusing India of attempting to ‘malign Pakistan’.

However, India countered swiftly. Rentala Srinivas, Second Secretary at India’s UN Mission, remarked, “It is telling that a neighbour who was not named chose to respond and admit their long-standing practice of cross-border terrorism.”

He further asserted, “Pakistan’s reputation speaks for itself. Its fingerprints are visible in terrorism across many geographies.

It is a menace not only to its neighbours but to the entire world.” Srinivas concluded, “No arguments or untruths can ever whitewash the crimes of Terroristan.”

Pakistan’s Slip and India’s Walkout

Reacting angrily, Rashid protested India’s use of the term ‘Terroristan’, saying it distorted the country’s name.

In doing so, he indirectly accepted the label, reinforcing India’s point.

India promptly walked out of the Assembly Hall as he continued his remarks.

Diplomats noted that countries usually avoid exercising their right of reply unless directly named, as publicly responding to unnamed references signals admission.

Jaishankar urged nations to strengthen international cooperation against terrorism and warned that the world must unequivocally condemn actions by countries that declare terrorism as state policy, operate terror hubs on an industrial scale, and glorify terrorists publicly.

He cautioned, “Those who condone nations that sponsor terror will find that it comes back to bite them.”

India’s walkout underscored its zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism and its determination to expose state-sponsored terror on global platforms.

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