External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar used India's national statement at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to deliver a sharp, uncompromising message on cross‑border, state‑sponsored terrorism, explicitly calling Pakistan a "serial practitioner of terrorism" and asserting New Delhi's sovereign right to defend itself.

Speaking a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the Assembly and revived the Kashmir narrative while crediting US President Donald Trump for "timely intervention" during the 2025 India‑Pakistan conflict, Jaishankar said arguments seeking to normalise terrorism and claim immunity from its consequences "will not stand".

He stressed that terrorism remains a persistent threat to peace, and when it is state‑sponsored with a cross‑border purpose it becomes a direct affront to the global order, demanding accountability for governments that indulge in such practices.

Jaishankar reiterated India's zero‑tolerance approach, urging the international community to expose and counter the financial networks underpinning terror, and warned that friendship and goodwill cannot coexist with terrorism, so any understandings premised on that would naturally be called into question.

He made clear that it is for the perpetrator of terrorism to mend its ways, and that India's right to defend itself against terrorism will be exercised, signalling that continued cross‑border terror by Pakistan will carry consequences.

In a separate right‑of‑reply intervention, Indian diplomat Petal Gahlot termed Sharif's remarks "bizarre" and drew the Assembly's attention to Pakistan's record of sheltering high‑profile terrorists, pointing out that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, was found living close to Pakistan's premier military academy.

Gahlot underscored that Pakistan "claims to uphold security by day and perpetrates terrorism by night", and warned that India had demonstrated last year that terrorists would have "nowhere to run and nowhere to hide", reinforcing the message that continued terrorism by Pakistan will have consequences.

The Indian rebuttal also dismantled Islamabad's attempt to credit President Trump for mediating a cessation of hostilities after last year's fighting, with New Delhi maintaining its consistent position against any third‑party intervention in its security affairs.

Contextually, New Delhi undertook Operation Sindoor on 7 May last year, striking terror infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan‑occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians, a sequence referenced implicitly in India's warnings about consequences for continued cross‑border terror.

India concluded by urging the UN General Assembly to recognise Pakistan and its policies for what they are, rather than what its representatives mendaciously present, while Jaishankar's broader address also touched on ending conflicts in West Asia and Ukraine, protecting commercial shipping in international waterways, and the need for reformed, transparent multilateralism.