Srinagar, Sep 27 (KNS): India will exercise its right to self-defence against terrorism and will not accept attempts to normalise or provide immunity for acts of terror, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said while addressing the high-level general debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly.

Without naming Pakistan, Jaishankar criticised a country he said had long been associated with terrorism, accusing its representative of attempting to distort facts before the UN General Assembly.

He said arguments seeking to portray terrorism as a normal phenomenon or to shield those responsible from its consequences were unacceptable.

“Our right to self-defence against terrorism will be exercised,” Jaishankar said, stressing that India would maintain what it described as a zero-tolerance approach towards terrorism.

The External Affairs Minister also drew a distinction between friendly relations and support for terrorism, saying that “friendship and goodwill cannot go hand in hand with terrorism”.

He said countries or actors involved in terrorism would have to change their behaviour if they wanted relations based on friendship and goodwill.

Jaishankar told the UN gathering that terrorism remained a persistent threat to international peace and security.

He said the threat became a direct challenge to the international order when terrorism was allegedly supported by states and used for cross-border objectives.

The minister called for governments involved in supporting terrorism to be held accountable and stressed the need for sustained international cooperation against terrorist networks.

He also highlighted the importance of identifying and disrupting sources of terrorist financing, arguing that cutting off financial channels was central to efforts to combat terrorism.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel

India has repeatedly raised the issue of cross-border terrorism at international forums and called for stronger action against those financing, facilitating or supporting terrorist activities.

Although Jaishankar did not name Pakistan in the remarks cited in the speech, his comments came against the backdrop of renewed diplomatic exchanges between New Delhi and Islamabad at the UN General Assembly.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had referred in his address to the 2025 India-Pakistan military confrontation and credited US President Donald Trump with what he described as timely intervention that helped bring about a ceasefire.

In his 2025 UN General Assembly address, Sharif had said Trump’s intervention helped avert what he described as a potentially wider war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Jaishankar's latest remarks put the focus back on India's stated position that counter-terrorism and national security remain central to its foreign-policy calculations.

The 81st session of the UN General Assembly opened on September 8, with this year's theme centred on “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All”.

The UN's counter-terrorism framework calls for international cooperation to prevent and combat terrorism while also emphasising respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Jaishankar's address comes amid a wider UN debate on international security, with terrorism, armed conflicts and geopolitical tensions featuring prominently during the high-level week.(KNS)