India on Wednesday accused Pakistan of “doublespeak” on terrorism at the United Nations, saying Islamabad was attempting to obscure its alleged support for terror groups by announcing a reward for information on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.
Exercising its Right of Reply in the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly during a discussion on measures to eliminate international terrorism, First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Raghoo Puri said Pakistan could not claim to be combating terrorism while allowing terror groups and their leaders to operate from its territory.
“Pakistan speaks of combating terrorism while seeking to obscure the very question that this committee must confront: What happens when terrorists are financed, facilitated, trained, sheltered, or supported from the territory of a state?” Puri said.
He said India had consistently maintained that terrorism could not be defeated through declarations and required action against its perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors.
“For years, Pakistan has presented itself as a frontline state in combating terrorism and as a victim while masking the fact that the Frankensteins the Pakistani state has created and lost control over have moved from wreaking havoc in neighbouring countries to doing the same in Pakistan,” Puri said.
Taking aim at Islamabad's recent announcement of an enhanced reward for information leading to the apprehension of UN-designated terrorist Masood Azhar, Puri said Pakistan was attempting to “gloss over its state support for terrorism”.
He also pointed to Pakistan’s earlier description of the Jaish-e-Mohammed as a defunct organisation, saying the world had seen similar claims before.
Puri questioned Pakistan’s claim that Azhar had fled to Afghanistan, saying media reports had managed to contact him and obtain his comments on Operation Sindoor.
“Surely the Pakistani state knows his whereabouts,” he said.
India had launched Operation Sindoor in May last year against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 civilians, mostly tourists, were killed. India has attributed the attack to The Resistance Front, described as a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Earlier this month, India had dismissed Pakistan’s announcement of a seven-million-rupee bounty for information on Azhar as a “gimmick” and called on Islamabad to take “concrete action” against terrorism.
Pakistan has for years maintained that Azhar is in Afghanistan, a claim rejected by Afghanistan’s Taliban government. A senior Afghan Foreign Ministry official has said Azhar is not in the country.
Puri also linked Pakistan’s latest announcement to international scrutiny of its counter-terror financing efforts, noting that the Financial Action Task Force is due to review Islamabad’s anti-terrorism measures. Pakistan was on the FATF grey list from 2018 to 2022 over deficiencies in its anti-money laundering framework and efforts to counter terror financing.
Recalling a recent remark by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz that her province faced a greater threat from neighbouring Pakistani provinces than from neighbouring countries, Puri said the statement exposed the contradictions in Islamabad’s position.
“You cannot run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. Reality never works like that,” he said.
Puri also invoked major terror attacks, saying the world had not forgotten the September 11 attacks in the US, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the Pahalgam attack.
“The world has not forgotten 9/11 and where its perpetrators, including Osama bin Laden, were caught. The world has not forgotten 26/11. The world has not forgotten Pahalgam,” he said.
He accused Pakistan of allowing conditions that enable cross-border terrorism and religious hatred to persist, while criticising its attempts at “narrative building, misinformation, and disinformation”.
“If bombed-out airfields and cratered runways look like victory to Pakistan, they are of course welcome to enjoy it,” Puri said.
He said India would continue to defend its people and warned that continued terrorism against the country would have consequences.
In a second Right of Reply, Puri rejected what he called Pakistan’s “circular economy” of words and narratives, saying greater effort against terrorism rather than misinformation and disinformation would have benefited the world.
He also referred to Pakistan as a “Form 47 government”, a term used by critics in connection with allegations of rigging and manipulation in the country’s 2024 general elections.
(With inputs from PTI)
