Balram Sampla
Geopolitics
Geopolitics
(Asian independent) A press briefing meant to discuss maritime safety turned into another flashpoint in India-Pakistan tensions at the United Nations this week.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was in New York on Friday for a joint briefing with Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti, announcing the launch of the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers.
The session had been billed as remarks-only, with no press Q&A on the agenda.
That didn’t stop a Pakistani journalist from interrupting near the end of the briefing, shouting questions tied to allegations involving Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and terrorism. An entirely unrelated to the subject at hand. Jaishankar didn’t miss a beat: “A terrorist country is asking me that question? Come on,” he replied, reportedly with a wry smile. As the reporter kept talking over him, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, P. Harish, added, “You have heard your reply. You have heard your response, loud and clear.”
The exchange left the reporter looking more like a heckler than a journalist, and quickly went viral back home.
A day after Sharif dodged the same question
The incident followed a similar confrontation just a day earlier, when an Indian journalist stopped Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif outside the UN building and asked point-blank when he’d stop harbouring terrorists and when Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed would be prosecuted. Sharif offered no answer , he reportedly looked away and walked off faster.
Was it planted?
Given the timing , right after Sharif’s own awkward silence , and the fact that the Pakistani reporter’s outburst had nothing to do with the briefing’s actual topic, there’s speculation in Indian media and commentary circles that the confrontation may have been a deliberate setup, possibly encouraged from within Pakistan’s establishment (including suggestions it traces back to army chief Asim Munir) to manufacture a counter-narrative after Sharif’s dodge went viral.
This is speculation, not something confirmed by any reporting so far and no source has verified who, if anyone, orchestrated the interruption.
Wider backdrop
The spat is part of a pattern this UNGA season. Earlier in the week, an Indian diplomat criticized Pakistan at the UN Human Rights Council over cross-border terrorism, telling Islamabad it “would better serve its people by focusing on development… rather than exporting terror.” And at last year’s General Assembly, Jaishankar , without naming Pakistan directly called it the “epicentre of global terrorism,” saying “major international terrorist attacks are traced back to that one country.”
Pakistan’s formal objection to that speech was met by India calling it a tacit admission.
Jaishankar has form here, too, back in 2022 he told a Pakistani reporter asking about regional terrorism that they were “asking the wrong minister” and should put the question to their own government instead.
Reference
1.https://www.india.com/news/india/jaishankar-slams-pakistani-journalist-during-press-interaction-at-unga-says-terrorist-country-asking-me-that-8530123/
2.https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/a-terrorist-country-is-asking-me-eam-jaishankar-hits-back-at-pakistani-reporter-at-un-briefing-557994-2026-09-25
