The United States and France stuck to India at the United Nations Security Council meet and thus Pakistan could not get the word “disputed” added with Jammu and Kashmir in the UNSC statement on Pahalgam attack.
India played up the Diplomatic card well at the UNSC meet.
India's representative said the open confession of Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitting to his country’s history of supporting and funding terrorist organisations exposes Pakistan as a “rogue state”.
But as Pakistan is a member of the UNSC (in the non permanent category till end of 2026), New Delhi could not get the naming of 'The Resistance Front' in the statement.
China and also Pakistan blocked the reference.
The Resistance Front initially claimed the responsibility of the Pahalgam attack but later withdrew the press release/claims made to the media.
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| Hawk's eye view - Diplomacy remains an art |
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and his team worked hard in the run up to the UNSC statement.
Jaishankar himself spoke to Foreign Ministers of , Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Somalia, Algeria, Greece, Guyana and Panama.
They are on the UNSC for a two-year term as non-permanent members. Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and South Korea are on the UNSC until December 2025 and Greece, Panama, Somalia, Denmark and Pakistan are till till the end 2026.
In fact, speaking at the Pakistan's National Assembly in Islamabad, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said as a non-permanent member Islamabad pushed to water down the language in the US-proposed statement, which originally named The Resistance Front.
"On behalf of Pakistan, I had two objections [to the statement]. First, only Pahalgam was mentioned and secondly, the blame was put on The Resistance Forum .... I thought this was not acceptable. You have to write Jammu and Kashmir along with Pahalgam" he said.
For his part Dr Jaishankar also spoke to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
In a post on X, he said he received a call from Guterres. “Appreciate his unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Agreed on the importance of accountability. India is resolved that the perpetrators, planners and backers of this attack are brought to justice.”
India has made its position clear to foreign ministers and government heads across the globe that it has a strict policy of “zero tolerance” towards terrorism.
Jaishankar sought support of foreign ministers he spoke on “the need to combat terrorism in all forms and manifestations”.
He also thanked each of them for their condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack and messages of solidarity and support.
The UNSC statement finally “condemned in the strongest terms” the terrorist attack in J&K, stressing that those responsible should be held accountable and the organisers and sponsors of this “reprehensible act of terrorism” should be brought to justice.
“The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice,” its press statement said.
“They stressed that those responsible for these killings should be held accountable, and urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with all relevant authorities in this regard,” it said.
India wanted the “Government of India” mentioned in the statement, but Pakistan objected to it.
France did not support use of the word 'disputed' before Jammu and Kashmir and this meant a setback to Pakistan yet again.
France is now the President of the Council for the month of April and the press statement was issued by Council President Jerome Bonnafont, Permanent Representative of France to the UN.
Importantly, Jerome was the French envoy to India during the erstwhile Manmohan Singh government from 2007 to 2011 and had friends and associates across party lines.
India played up the Diplomatic card well at the UNSC meet.
New Delhi said the open confession of Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitting to his country’s history of supporting and funding terrorist organisations exposes Pakistan as a “rogue state” fuelling global terrorism and destabilising the region.
India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Yojna Patel, delivered a strong Right of Reply at the hybrid launch event for the ‘Victims of Terrorism Association Network’ (VoTAN) of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism when Pakistan’s delegate made a reference to the Pahalgam terror attack.
“It is unfortunate that one particular delegation has chosen to misuse and undermine this forum to indulge in propaganda and make baseless allegations against India....... The whole world has heard the Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitting and confessing Pakistan’s history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations in a recent television interview,” she said.
This "open confession" surprises no one and exposes Pakistan as a rogue state fueling global terrorism and destabilising the region. The world can no longer turn a blind eye. "I have nothing further to add,” she has said.
In a recent interview on Sky News, Asif said, “Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and West, including Britain” on a reference that Pakistan has had a long history of backing, supporting, training and funding these terrorist organisations.
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