India calls Pakistan a puppet regime at UN, warns on terrorism
India hit back at Pakistan at the United Nations, calling it a "puppet" regime and accusing it of spreading "falsehoods" and "deceit". Exercising its Right of Reply after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address at the UN General Assembly, India also warned that continued terrorism from Pakistan would have consequences.
The sharp exchange came after Sharif thanked US President Donald Trump for his "timely intervention" in the 2025 conflict with India and again raised the Kashmir issue in his speech. India rejected his remarks, defended its position on Jammu and Kashmir, and attacked Pakistan over terrorism, its internal political setup and the treatment of minorities.
Responding on Friday night, Petal Gahlot, First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said, "We heard some hypocritical homilies about democratic rights and human values from a regime whose capital at this very moment is being fortified against its own people." She added, "And thatis happening because this is a regime of the army, by the army, and for the army. Their puppets may come and go but let us have no illusion who calls the shots. The reality of Pakistan is expressed in its 27th Amendment and the lifelong immunity granted to its real ruler."
She was referring to the 27th Constitutional Amendment passed in November last year by the Shehbaz Sharif government, which grants Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, lifelong immunity from legal prosecution.
Gahlot said, "We are confident that this Assembly will recognise Pakistan and its policies for what they really are; not what its representative mendaciously projects it to be. Reiterating falsehoods year after year does not make them true. Pakistan’s terrorism, deceit and duplicity will neither benefit it nor the world."
In his around 23-minute address, Sharif thanked Trump for his "resolute and visionary leadership", saying the American leader’s "timely intervention" saved hundreds of millions of lives in South Asia. He also raised Kashmir and said that, to ensure South Asia never reaches the brink of the 2025 conflict again, a just and fair solution to the issue was needed.
India said Sharif’s "bizarre remarks" came just a fortnight after New York City and the world marked the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack. "This contextis important to keep in mind because its mastermind, Osama Bin Laden, was living right on the doorstep of the Pakistani Army’s premier academy," Gahlot said.
Rejecting Sharif’s remarks on Kashmir, Gahlot said the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is "an integral and inalienable part" of India. "And will always remain so. But if we must talk about Kashmir, let us turn our attention to the Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Ask the people of Rawalakot about the wanton killings, the brutal violence and the denial of basic rights that they have long experienced," she said.
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has seen protests for months over 12 contentious refugee seats, leading to a crackdown by security forces and allegations of rigging in the recent elections to the so-called legislative assembly.
Attacking Pakistan over cross-border terrorism, Gahlot said India had shown last year that "terrorists will have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide". India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, in which 26 civilians were killed.
"Our right to defend ourselves against terrorism will be exercised. And continued terrorism by Pakistan will have consequences. It will understandably call into question what were premised on friendship and goodwill," she said.
Gahlot also said the views heard from Sharif at the UNGA "emanate from those with a long record of bigotry and hatred". "This Assembly was subjected to remarks about religious intolerance from the very regime whose mainstay is blasphemy laws. The world knows how minorities are treated in Pakistan; no pious platitude can mislead it," she said. India’s response at the UN thus rejected Pakistan’s claims, restated its stand on Kashmir and warned Islamabad over terrorism.
