India Responds Strongly to Shehbaz Sharif’s UN Speech: ‘Pakistan’s Terrorism Will Invite Consequences’

In a decisive rebuttal to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, India asserted that Islamabad’s history of cross-border terrorism has global repercussions and will lead to severe consequences. India’s First Secretary to the UN, Sneha Dubey, delivered the hard-hitting response, highlighting Pakistan’s alleged involvement in various terrorist incidents worldwide.

“The world knows that Pakistan has long employed cross-border terrorism as a weapon against its neighbours,” Dubey stated. She pointed to several high-profile attacks, including the assault on India’s Parliament and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, underscoring the hypocrisy of a nation with such a tumultuous history criticizing violence elsewhere. “For such a country to speak about violence anywhere is hypocrisy at its worst,” she added.

Dubey stressed that Pakistan must recognize that its continued support for terrorism against India would “inevitably invite consequences.” She further condemned Pakistan’s record on human rights, referring to its 1971 genocide and ongoing persecution of minorities. “It is ridiculous that a nation that committed genocide in 1971 and which persecutes its minorities relentlessly even now dare speak about intolerance and phobias,” Dubey asserted.

Shehbaz Sharif’s speech had accused India of expanding its military capabilities and called for the reversal of the 2019 abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Sharif claimed that instead of pursuing peace, India has moved away from commitments made in Security Council resolutions regarding Kashmir, which mandate a plebiscite for the region’s residents to exercise their right to self-determination.

“Even more worryingly, [India] is engaged in a massive expansion of its military capabilities which are essentially deployed against Pakistan,” Sharif warned. He also vowed that Pakistan would respond decisively to any perceived aggression from India, reinforcing the ongoing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

In his address, Sharif touched on various global issues, including the conflict in Gaza and rising geopolitical tensions, framing Pakistan as a nation facing significant challenges. However, India’s response remained focused on the core issue of terrorism and Pakistan’s historical role in fostering a culture of violence.

India has consistently maintained its desire for normal neighborly relations with Pakistan but insists that the onus lies with Islamabad to foster an environment free of terrorism. Following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, which Pakistan viewed as a significant blow to the peace process, diplomatic ties between the two countries have remained severely strained.

As the UNGA session unfolds, the ongoing exchange of strong rhetoric between India and Pakistan continues to draw international attention, highlighting the complex and often volatile relationship between the two nations.