External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar delivered a sharp and unequivocal response to a Pakistani journalist who attempted to interrupt a media briefing at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Addressing reporters alongside Liberia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, on behalf of the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers, Jaishankar was speaking during the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
The event had been explicitly outlined as a remarks-only interaction beforehand. However, towards the close of the briefing, the Pakistani reporter interjected and questioned when the Indian government would stop sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan.
Jaishankar firmly dismissed the heckling remark, stating, “A terrorist country is asking me that question. Come on.”
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Harish Parvathaneni, immediately stepped in to reinforce the minister’s statement, informing the journalist that he had received his answer loud and clear.
This intense exchange occurred shortly after an Indian journalist confronted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif upon his arrival at the UN building, asking him when Pakistan would cease harbouring terrorists.
Jaishankar is currently heading the Indian delegation in New York during the UNGA High-Level Week, where he is scheduled to address the High-Level Session on Saturday following a series of bilateral and plurilateral meetings.
India has consistently asserted its position against cross-border terrorism, calling on Islamabad to execute verified and credible actions to dismantle terrorist networks operating from its soil.
New Delhi has maintained that its military action under Operation Sindoor, launched following the 22 April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack which resulted in the tragic deaths of 26 civilians, was a legitimate exercise of its right to self-defence. Operation Sindoor specifically targeted terror infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The severe nature of the Pahalgam attack received widespread international acknowledgment, featuring prominently in official outcome documents across multiple global platforms, including a UN Security Council press statement issued in April 2025.
The Resistance Front (TRF), an outfit that India identifies as a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, was formally designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States on 18 July 2025.
India has maintained TRF’s direct involvement in the Pahalgam tragedy, a link that was also highlighted in the 36th monitoring report of the UN Security Council’s 1267 Sanctions Committee released in July last year.
Furthermore, Pakistan’s history of being placed on the Financial Action Task Force grey list—specifically during its extended monitoring period between June 2018 and October 2022—required it to disrupt terror financing channels and prosecute individuals linked to militant networks.
India continues to highlight that sustained international pressure and FATF scrutiny forced Pakistan to take enforced action against prominent terrorists, including key perpetrators associated with the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
ANI
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