- India rebukes Pakistan for defending terrorists as freedom fighters
- UN dialogue exposes Pakistan’s hypocrisy on global terrorism
India strongly condemned Pakistan at the United Nations for its latest attempt to justify cross-border terrorism by labelling its terror proxies as “freedom fighters.” Responding sharply to the remarks made by Pakistani representative Muhammad Jawad Ajmal, India accused Islamabad of engaging in “doublespeak and hypocrisy,” calling it the “epicentre of global terrorism.”
Ajmal, a Counsellor at Pakistan’s UN Mission, had argued that nations should “distinguish between terrorism and the exercise of the legitimate right of people to resist foreign occupation.” He claimed that such distinction is supported by international law and General Assembly resolution 46/51. However, India countered that no international law legitimises acts of terror under political or ideological pretexts, pointing to numerous UN declarations that criminalize terrorism regardless of motive.
Citing the 1994 General Assembly declaration, India highlighted that any criminal act meant to provoke terror among the public is “unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature.” The 1999 International Convention Against the Financing of Terrorism and a 2004 UNSC resolution also reaffirm that no justification can defend acts of terrorism.
Responding on behalf of India, Raghoo Puri, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said, “Terrorism is among the gravest of offences that fundamentally violates the core of humanity. It represents the worst of bigotry, violence, intolerance and fear and terrorists are the worst of the worst in humankind.” He asserted that “Pakistan’s doublespeak and hypocrisy also stand exposed.”
Puri added that Pakistan’s record as a “well-known epicentre of terrorism” is widely recognized and that it has “established links to multiple terror attacks targeting innocent nationals.” He dismissed Pakistan’s claims of human rights violations by India’s counterterrorism actions as baseless and condemned Islamabad’s attempt to misuse the claim of Islamophobia to conceal its support for extremist groups.
Negotiations for the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, proposed by India, have been delayed for nearly two decades because of Pakistan and a small group of allies seeking to label their proxies as liberation groups. India reiterated that such distortions hinder global consensus against terrorism and weaken international security.
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