Indian diplomat Petal Gahlot raises deteriorating situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in right of reply at UN

Indian diplomat Petal Gehlot has delivered a sharp rebuke of Pakistan at the United Nations, hitting out at its leadership for hypocrisy, cross-border terrorism and military domination after remarks by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Petal 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 the views expressed by Pakistan “emanate from those with a long record of bigotry and hatred.”

“They claim to uphold security during the day; they actually carry out terrorism at night,” Gahlot told the Assembly. She rejected 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. A century-old Hindu temple in Siraj village, Narowal district in Pakistan’s Punjab, was reduced to rubble on 21 August, with minority groups saying it was razed so adjoining land could be absorbed by a madrassa.

Gahlot dismissed references to Jammu and Kashmir, calling the Indian union territory “an integral and inalienable part of my country. And will always remain so.” She then turned the focus to areas under Pakistan occupied where the situation has deteriorated. In the past few months, the Pakistani occupying forces have killed many unarmed civilians using brute force.

“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. Recalling India's operation Sindoor, Gahlot said, “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.” India launched its counter-terror operation days after Pakistan-trained terrorists killed civilians in Pahalgam. Under the operation, several sites where terrorists have been trained were destroyed by the Indian side.

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 terrorist, 9/11 terroists attack plotter Osama bin Laden, noting he “was living right on the doorstep of the Pakistani Army’s premier academy.” Gahlot described the Pakistani government as what “Pakistanis themselves call a Form 47 government.” Form 47 is Pakistan Election Commission document, prepared after collecting Form 45 from polling stations. After the 2024 election, opposition said many Form 47s were changed overnight, by changing form 45.

She told the assembly that they should “recognize 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".