At UN, Pakistan says India provides 'active support' to Taliban, backs terrorist groups

Pakistan told the United Nations that India was sponsoring terrorism against it, saying that New Delhi was providing “active support” to the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan and backing the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) through proxies in the country.

In a strongly worded right of reply by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN on Thursday, Pakistan’s UN mission said India was providing material and logistical support to the Taliban regime under the “garb of humanitarian aid”, while describing the activities of Indian authorities abroad as a “glaring example of Indian state terrorism”.

“Their newfound love for the Taliban regime is no accident,” Counsellor Muhammad Jawad Ajmal said, saying that India was using its support for the Taliban to facilitate attacks against Pakistan.

“We have once again heard the propaganda made by the Indian delegation in a further statement just now,” Ajmal said.

He described India as a “serial violator of human rights” that had “mainstreamed Islamophobia and extremist ideologies”, saying it was engineering demographic changes in the “unlawfully occupied territories of Jammu and Kashmir”.

He said these actions were being carried out in “gross violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions”, adding that it was unfortunate for India to make what he called “false accusations and foul remarks”.

“Pakistan is fully aware of the cost of Indian sponsored terrorism on our territory,” Ajmal said, saying India is aiding and abetting terrorist groups including “the Fitna al Khawarij TTP and the Fitna al Hindustan BLA through active support of proxies inside Afghanistan”.

Ajmal said Pakistan had repeatedly warned the international community about "Indian attempts to sow discord and create mischief" in the region.

“The capture of serving Indian naval commander Kulbhushan Jadhav on Pakistani territory and his confession for acts of sabotage, espionage and multiple terrorist incidents in Pakistan that have resulted in the deaths of scores of civilians, including women and children, is a glaring example of Indian state terrorism,” Ajmal said.

“The Indian footprint of extraterritorial assassinations and killings abroad, which have now become a global feature of their illegal actions,” included an attempt by Nikhil Gupta to kill a Sikh leader in the United States and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, Ajmal said.

He said the cases had taken place “at the behest of the Indian government”, describing the allegations as public knowledge. “Let this be known to all, Pakistan will defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, its people and its security,” Ajmal said.

“And Pakistan will do all that is needed towards this end, while maintaining its steadfast commitment to peaceful settlement of disputes and compliance with international law and the UN Charter.”

Ajmal also rejected India’s references to Operation Sindoor and Pakistan’s military response in May 2025, saying the “entire world bears witness to the ground realities and what we did”.

Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, also addressed a General Assembly debate on measures to eliminate international terrorism.

Jadoon said terrorism was increasing in several parts of the world, with the threat emanating from Afghanistan having become particularly serious. “Terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, in particular, has emerged as a grave threat, besides its incidence in West Africa and the Sahel, and the Middle East.”

Pakistan had paid a heavy price for its role in the global counter-terrorism campaign since the turn of the century, including more than 100,000 lives and economic losses of more than $150 billion, he said.

He also linked recent attacks in Pakistan to groups he described as “externally-sponsored”, accusing the TTP and BLA and its Majeed Brigade of operating from Afghan soil with India’s support.

“This terrorism has resulted in the grievous loss of more than 4,700 innocent Pakistanis in just the last three years.”

Jadoon said Pakistan had responded to attacks with intelligence-based counter-terrorism operations against terrorist infrastructure and safe havens along its western border.

“These strikes are strictly targeted at TTP and BLA terrorists and are carried out with high precision and accuracy to avoid civilian casualties,” he said, rejecting “any allegations or insinuations to the contrary”.

He called for a broader international response to terrorism, arguing that the global counter-terrorism architecture had not kept pace with the changing nature of the threat.

Pakistan proposed six areas for action, including tackling threats emanating from Afghanistan and holding accountable those providing safe havens or aiding and financing terrorist groups. It also called for greater attention to the conditions conducive to terrorism, in line with the first pillar of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS).

Jadoon said the international community should distinguish between terrorism and what Pakistan described as the “legitimate struggle of peoples against foreign occupation” and their right to self-determination.

He also called for state terrorism to be rejected, referring to Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“Occupation and accompanying repression cannot be masked as counter-terrorism,” he said, adding that counter-terrorism measures should not be misused to violate human rights or international law.

Pakistan further called for changes to the UN counter-terrorism architecture, sanctions regimes and listing procedures so they could respond more effectively to current threats and provide what Jadoon described as a “fair, just and comprehensive mechanism”.

He also urged the international community to address terrorists’ use of new technologies for organising, recruitment and financing.

On the proposed Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), Jadoon said Pakistan supported the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s position that any consensus-based convention must distinguish terrorism from legitimate struggles for self-determination.

He criticised what Pakistan regarded as an imbalance in existing counter-terrorism policies, saying they had “singled out only the adherents of one religion – Muslims – for affiliation with terrorism and extremism”.

Any definition of terrorism should also account for emerging threats, including violence by far-right extremists, violent nationalist, xenophobic, Islamophobic and anti-Muslim groups, including Hindutva groups, he said.

Jadoon also called for state-sponsored extraterritorial assassinations, disinformation campaigns, the use of terrorist groups as proxies and “hydro terrorism” to be addressed as instruments of state policy.

Turning to India, he said New Delhi is sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan while carrying it out in IIOJK.

“It is most ironic that a country that is actively sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan, besides perpetrating state terrorism in IIOJK, is playing the victim and spreading falsehoods in this Committee yesterday,” he said.

“We have extensively documented India’s involvement in terrorism inside Pakistan and presented irrefutable evidence to the international community.”

Jadoon also referred to India’s military action against Pakistan in May 2025, accusing it of using “false pretexts and baseless allegations” and deliberately targeting civilian areas and infrastructure, including residential buildings and mosques.

He said 54 civilians, including 13 women and 15 children, had been killed.

“Pakistan exercised its right to self-defence and gave a befitting and proportionate response to the aggressor, targeted against military sites and installations only,” Jadoon said.

The response neutralised Indian fighter jets, drones and military targets, while a US-brokered ceasefire subsequently restored calm, he said.

He said India is subsequently increasing its reliance on terrorist proxies. “Following its humbling on the battlefield, India has only intensified the use of its terrorist proxies against Pakistan,” Jadoon said. “These Indian terrorist proxies will meet the same fate as its fighter jets did – in May last year.”

Jadoon also criticised the ninth review of the GCTS, saying Pakistan had hoped it would reflect key OIC concerns but had failed to address them or add value to the text. He said it was unfortunate that consensus had eluded member states and that the resolution had instead been put to a vote on the 20th anniversary of the GCTS.

Pakistan reiterated its proposal for a General Assembly subsidiary body, funded through the regular budget, to oversee balanced implementation of all four pillars of the strategy through a member-state-driven process.

The proposed body would also seek to translate the strategy’s objectives into “concrete outcomes to eliminate the menace of terrorism”.