UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations General Assembly witnessed a fiery diplomatic confrontation on Saturday evening as India and Pakistan engaged in a fierce war of words. The spat ignited following India’s address, where External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, without explicitly naming Pakistan, accused a neighboring country of being a nexus for terrorism and directly linked it to the recent Pahalgam terror attack in April. India further escalated its rhetoric by pointedly referring to Pakistan as ‘Terroristan’ in its subsequent right of reply.
Pakistan swiftly countered these accusations. Exercising its right of reply, a Pakistani diplomat rejected India’s claims, stating that New Delhi was attempting to malign Pakistan’s image and had failed to provide any concrete evidence to Islamabad regarding its alleged involvement in the Pahalgam incident.
However, India was not to be silenced. In a sharp rebuttal later that evening, Rentala Srinivas, a Second Secretary at India’s UN mission, highlighted the significance of Pakistan’s response. “It is telling that a neighbour, who was not named, chose to nevertheless respond and admit their longstanding practice of cross-border terrorism,” Srinivas asserted, implying a tacit confession.
Srinivas continued, emphasizing Pakistan’s global reputation: “Pakistan’s reputation speaks for itself. Its fingerprints are so visible in terrorism across so many geographies. It is a menace not only to its neighbors but to the entire world.” He concluded with a powerful statement, declaring, “No arguments or untruths can ever whitewash the crimes of Terroristan.”
The diplomatic volley continued as Pakistan’s representative intervened a second time, expressing strong disapproval of India’s use of derogatory terms. He criticized India for “distorting its name” and labeling it a “deliberate attempt to malign and insult an entire people.” He further accused India of actively destabilizing neighboring countries through its intelligence agencies, adding another layer of complexity to the escalating diplomatic tension.