India’s warning of “unavoidable consequences” after Shehbaz Sharif’s UN speech

India today issued a stern warning to Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) following Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech in which he raised the Jammu and Kashmir issue. India responded decisively, saying that Pakistan’s continued support for cross-border terrorism “will inevitably have consequences”.

India’s First Secretary to the UN, Bhavika Mangalanandan, delivered a sharp rebuttal alleging Pakistan’s complicity in global terrorism, citing its long history of using cross-border terrorism as state policy. Ms Mangalanandan’s statement came in response to Mr Sharif’s call for India to reverse the abrogation of Article 370 of 2019, which revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and his demands for dialogue between the two to land.

“This Assembly unfortunately witnessed a travesty this morning. A country led by the military, with a global reputation for terrorism, drug trafficking and transnational crime, has had the audacity to attack the world’s largest democracy,” Ms Mangalanandan said. “The world can see with its own eyes what Pakistan really is.”

Watch: India exercises its right of reply at the 79th session of the @UN Debate in the General Assembly.@DrSJaishankar @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/c6g4HAKTBg

— India at the UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) September 28, 2024

The Chief Secretary described Sharif’s speech as bold considering Pakistan’s international “record in terrorism”, drug trafficking and cross-border crime. “A country led by the military, with a global reputation for terrorism… has had the audacity to attack the world’s largest democracy,” she said, referring to attacks orchestrated by Pakistan-based terror groups, including the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001 and the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

Ms Mangalanandan said Pakistan’s ‘fingerprints’ are on many terrorist incidents around the world. “Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the Prime Minister would say this in this hallowed hall. Yet we must make it clear how unacceptable his words are to all of us. We know that Pakistan will try to fight the truth with more lies. won’t change anything. Our position is clear and needs no repetition,” she said.

India reiterated that any discussion on a ‘strategic restraint regime’ with Pakistan is moot unless terrorism is eradicated. Ms Mangalanandan noted: “There can be no similarity with terrorism.” She also spoke about Pakistan’s past, including hosting Osama bin Laden and its connections to several terrorist incidents worldwide.

Mr Sharif in his speech linked the Kashmir issue to regional peace. He also alleged that India’s military expansion was against Pakistan. Ms Mangalanandan, however, pointed to Pakistan’s history of interfering in Jammu and Kashmir through terrorism in an attempt to disrupt the democratic process in the region.

India’s response extended beyond terrorism to Pakistan’s internal problems. Ms Mangalanandan accused Pakistan of human rights abuses, citing the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh and the persecution of minorities. She called it “ridiculous” that Pakistan is lecturing the world on intolerance, given its own record.

Pakistan responded with a right of reply, rejecting India’s claims as ‘baseless and misleading’ and reiterating its call for a referendum in Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.