India slams Pakistan’s ‘untruths’ and ‘fraud’ at UN; warns that terrorism will have consequences
Describing Pakistan as a “puppet” regime, India criticized “falsehoods” and “fraud” at the UN and warned that continued terrorism by Islamabad would have consequences.
India exercised its right of reply on Friday (September 25, 2026) night after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used the podium of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to praise US President Donald Trump for his “timely intervention” in the 2025 conflict with India and raised the Kashmir issue again in his address to the world body.
Petal Gahlot, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, said: “We have heard some hypocritical homilies about democratic rights and human values from a regime whose capital is now being fortified against its own people.
“And this… is happening because this is a regime of the army, by the army and for the army. Their stooges may come and go, but let us have no illusions about who is calling the shots. The reality of Pakistan is its 27th amendment and the lifetime immunity given to its real ruler,” Gahlot said.
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She was referring to the 27th Constitutional Amendment, passed in November 2025 by the Sharif government, which grants Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces and Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, immunity from prosecution for life.
“We are confident that this assembly will recognize Pakistan and its politics for what it really is; not for how its representative falsely portrays it. Repeating falsehoods year after year will not make them true. Pakistan’s terrorism, deception and duplicity will not benefit it or the world,” she said.
In his speech, Mr Sharif thanked Mr Trump for his “decisive and visionary leadership”, saying the US leader’s “timely intervention” had saved hundreds of millions of lives in South Asia. In his roughly 23-minute speech, Mr Sharif also raised the issue of Kashmir, saying a fair and just solution was needed to ensure South Asia never again reaches the “chasm” of conflict in 2025.
India reminded the UN General Assembly that Mr Sharif’s “bizarre remarks” came just a fortnight after New York and the world marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. “This context … is important to keep in mind because its mastermind, Osama bin Laden, lived right on the doorstep of a premier academy of the Pakistani military,” Gahlot said.
Criticizing Mr Sharif for raising the Kashmir issue, Ms Gahlot said the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral and inalienable part of the country. “And it will always remain so. But if we have to talk about Kashmir, let’s focus our attention on Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Ask the people of Rawalakot about the wanton killings, brutal violence and denial of basic rights they have experienced for a long time,” she added.
Protests against 12 contested refugee seats have been ongoing in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for several months, prompting a crackdown by security forces and allegations of rigging in the region’s recently held legislative assembly elections.
Criticizing Pakistan for its “long-standing practice” of cross-border terrorism, Ms Gahlot said India had demonstrated last year that “terrorists will have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide”.
India launched Operation Sindoor on 7 May 2025, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in retaliation for the 22 April 2025 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
“Our right to defend ourselves against terrorism will be exercised. And continued terrorism by Pakistan will have consequences. It will of course challenge what was built on friendship and goodwill,” Gahlot said.
She said the views expressed by Mr Sharif at the UN General Assembly “come from those who have a long history of bigotry and hatred”.
“This assembly has been subjected to remarks about religious intolerance by the regime itself, whose mainstay is blasphemy laws. The world knows how minorities are treated in Pakistan; no pious phrase can mislead it,” she said.
Published – 26 Sep 2026 12:31 IST