Criticising Mr. Sharif for raising the Kashmir issue, Ms. Gahlot said the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral and inalienable part of the country.(X/@IndiaUNNewYork, Reuters)
Describing Pakistan as a “puppet” regime, India has criticised the country’s “falsehoods” and “deceit” at the UN, warning that continued terrorism by Islamabad will have consequences.
India exercised its Right of Reply on Friday (September 25, 2026) night, after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used the UN General Assembly (UNGA) podium to credit U.S. President Donald Trump for his “timely intervention” in the 2025 conflict with India, and again raised the Kashmir issue in his address to the world body.
Petal Gahlot, First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, said, “We heard some hypocritical homilies about democratic rights and human values from a regime whose capital at this very moment is being fortified against its own people.”
“And that… is happening because this is a regime of the army, by the army, and for the army. Their puppets may come and go but let us have no illusion who calls the shots. The reality of Pakistan is expressed in its 27th Amendment and the lifelong immunity granted to its real ruler,” Ms. Gahlot said.
She was referring to the 27th Constitutional Amendment, passed in November 2025 by the Sharif government, which grants Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, lifelong immunity from legal prosecution.
“We are confident that this Assembly will recognise Pakistan and its policies for what they really are; not what its representative mendaciously projects it to be. Reiterating falsehoods year after year does not make them true. Pakistan’s terrorism, deceit and duplicity will neither benefit it nor the world,” she said.
In his address, Mr. Sharif had thanked Mr. Trump for his “resolute and visionary leadership,” saying the American leader’s “timely intervention” saved hundreds of millions of lives in South Asia. In his roughly 23-minute address, Mr. Sharif also raised the issue of Kashmir, saying a just and fair solution was required to ensure South Asia never again reached the “precipice” of the 2025 conflict.
India reminded the UNGA that Mr. Sharif’s “bizarre remarks” came just a fortnight after New York City and the world marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “This context… is important to keep in mind because its mastermind, Osama bin Laden, was living right on the doorstep of the Pakistani Army’s premier academy,” Ms. Gahlot said.
Criticising Mr. Sharif for raising the Kashmir issue, Ms. Gahlot said the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral and inalienable part of the country. “And will always remain so. But if we must talk about Kashmir, let us turn our attention to Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Ask the people of Rawalakot about the wanton killings, the brutal violence and the denial of basic rights that they have long experienced,” she added.
The Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) region has for several months seen protests over 12 contentious refugee seats, triggering a crackdown by security forces and allegations of rigging in the recently held elections to the region’s legislative assembly.
Criticising Pakistan for its “long-standing practice” of cross-border terrorism, Ms. Gahlot said India had demonstrated last year that “terrorists will have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”
India had launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack of April 22, 2025, which killed 26 civilians.
“Our right to defend ourselves against terrorism will be exercised. And continued terrorism by Pakistan will have consequences. It will understandably call into question what were premised on friendship and goodwill,” Ms. Gahlot said.
She said the views voiced by Mr. Sharif at the UNGA “emanate from those with a long record of bigotry and hatred.”
“This Assembly was subjected to remarks about religious intolerance from the very regime whose mainstay is blasphemy laws. The world knows how minorities are treated in Pakistan; no pious platitude can mislead it,” she said.
Published – September 26, 2026 12:31 pm IST
