At the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar delivered a sharp rebuke to Pakistan, asserting that major international terrorist attacks are traceable to that country. Jaishankar, while not explicitly naming Pakistan, called it the "epicentre of global terrorism" and accused it of being behind decades of international terror attacks.

Jaishankar stated that India has been confronting the challenge of terrorism since its independence, "having a neighbour that is an epicentre of global terrorism". He added that for decades, major international terrorist attacks have been traced back to that one country, and that the UN's designated lists of terrorists are filled with its nationals.

The External Affairs Minister cited the recent attack in Pahalgam in April 2025, where innocent tourists were murdered, as an example of "cross-border barbarism". He affirmed that India exercised its right to defend its people against terrorism and brought the organizers and perpetrators to justice. This was a reference to Operation Sindoor in May, which sought to bring the "organisers and perpetrators of terrorism to justice".

Jaishankar emphasized that countering terrorism is a particular priority because it "synthesises bigotry, violence, intolerance, and fear". He argued that there needs to be deeper international cooperation because terrorism is a shared threat. He stated that when nations openly declare terrorism as a state policy, when terror hubs operate on an industrial scale, and when terrorists are publicly glorified, such actions must be unequivocally condemned. He also added that the financing of terrorism must be stopped and prominent terrorists must be sanctioned.

The minister called for relentless pressure to be applied on the entire terrorism ecosystem and warned that those who condone state sponsors of terror would find it coming back to harm them.

India's stance is that there must be zero-tolerance for terrorism, and that both terrorists and their sponsors will be held accountable. India has also asserted that it will not allow terrorism to be practiced under the cover of nuclear blackmail and will never bow to such threats.

These remarks came hours after Petal Gahlot, India's diplomatic representative at the UN, criticized Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for "glorifying terrorism". Gahlot dismissed Sharif's account of the May conflict, when Islamabad claimed victory despite India striking multiple Pakistani airbases.

India has a long-standing position that any outstanding issues between India and Pakistan will be addressed bilaterally, with no room for any third party intervention. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has also called on BRICS to defend the multilateral trading system amid increasing protectionism and tariff volatility during a meeting of the Bloc's Foreign Ministers in New York on the sidelines of the UNGA session.