Indian diplomat Petal Gahlot delivered a pointed rebuke of Pakistan at the United Nations, accusing its leadership of hypocrisy, cross-border terrorism, and military domination following remarks by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Gahlot, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, exercised India’s right of reply during the General Assembly session in New York. She said Pakistan’s remarks “emanate from those with a long record of bigotry and hatred.”
“Terrorism At Night,” Says Indian Diplomat
“They claim to uphold security during the day; they actually carry out terrorism at night,” Gahlot told the Assembly. She dismissed Pakistan’s comments on religious intolerance, arguing they came “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.
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Her remarks came days after a century-old Hindu temple in Siraj village, Narowal district, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, was demolished on August 21. Minority groups have alleged the structure was razed so that adjoining land could be absorbed by a madrassa.
Focus Turns To Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir
Gahlot rejected Pakistan’s references to Jammu and Kashmir, describing the Indian union territory as “an integral and inalienable part of my country. And will always remain so.” She then shifted focus to Pakistan-occupied areas, where she said the situation has deteriorated, with Pakistani occupying forces killing unarmed civilians using brute force in recent months.
“If we must talk about Kashmir, let us turn our attention to the 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 said.
She identified “the longstanding practice of cross-border terrorism by Pakistan” as the core issue, invoking India’s Operation Sindoor. “We demonstrated last year that terrorists will have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Our right to defend ourselves against terrorism will be exercised. And continued terrorism by Pakistan will have consequences,” Gahlot said. India had launched the counter-terror operation days after Pakistan-trained terrorists killed civilians in Pahalgam, destroying several sites used to train terrorists.
“Regime Of The Army, By The Army, For The Army”
Gahlot accused Islamabad of offering “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, Mr President, is happening because this is a regime of the Army, by the Army, and for the Army,” she said. “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.”
She linked Pakistan’s record to the 2011 killing of UN-designated terrorist and 9/11 plotter Osama bin Laden, noting he “was living right on the doorstep of the Pakistani Army’s premier academy.” Gahlot also described the Pakistani government as what “Pakistanis themselves call a Form 47 government” — a reference to the Pakistan Election Commission document prepared after collecting Form 45 results from polling stations. Following Pakistan’s 2024 election, opposition parties alleged that many Form 47 results were altered overnight by changing the underlying Form 45 tallies.
She urged the Assembly to “recognize Pakistan and its policies for what they really are; not what its representative mendaciously projects it to be,” adding, “Reiterating falsehoods year after year does not make them true. Pakistan’s terrorism, deceit and duplicity will neither benefit it nor the world.”
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