India confronts Pakistan over cross-border terrorism at United Nations

India delivered a stinging rebuke to Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly, with a senior diplomat accusing Islamabad of pursuing a deliberate and long-standing policy of cross-border terrorism. First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, Petal Gahlot, said Pakistan's duplicity would benefit neither itself nor the wider world, and dismissed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's address to the assembly.

Gahlot also accused Pakistan of offering hypocritical homilies about democratic rights, a pointed reference to what India regards as Islamabad's contradictory stance on human freedoms given its alleged support for militant groups.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar sharpened the rhetoric further when confronted by a Pakistani reporter on the sidelines, responding with the pointed question: "A terrorist country is asking me?" Jaishankar is scheduled to address the High-Level Session formally on Saturday, where tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours are expected to remain in sharp focus.