UNGA Charade

Though it puts in tremendous efforts to use the UNGA podium for projecting itself as an epitome of political righteousness and leaves no stone unturned in demonising New Delhi, Islamabad finds few [if any] takers for its incredulous arguments, thanks to conspicuous lack of credibility in its arguments. This has been proved yet once again during Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s 2026 UNGA address last month.
Why else did a particular group of people in the gallery repeatedly interrupt Sharif’s uninspiring speech by continuously applauding and even raising “Pakistan ZIndabad” [long live Pakistan] slogans? That this group was responding to hand signals given by Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar further buttresses the fact that this entirely malapropos drama was orchestrated by Islamabad to artificially create an impression of widespread appreciation.
That this puerile act was caught on camera made it all the more embarrassing. Pakistan’s former Foreign Office spokesperson and erstwhile High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit was so upset by this charade that during a TV interview he mockingly remarked that “if our own people had been made to sit in the gallery, then at least they should have been taught when to applaud and when to keep silent.” Could there be a more brutal indictment of Islamabad’s attempt to score brownie points?

Self Defeating Legacy

Islamabad’s habit of crying “Wolf” and making a joke of itself isn’t new. Readers would recall that in his 2019 UNGA address the then Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan had predicted that after precautionary measures on movement post Article 370 abrogation were lifted, there would be a “ blood bath” in Kashmir Valley.
That this didn’t happen exposes Islamabad’s proclivity for blaming India for creating an imaginary doomsday scenario, complete with the likelihood of it being compelled to exercise the nuclear option.
And during his last year’s UNGA address, Prime Minister Sharif tried to project Pakistan as a “bulwark” against terrorism and sought international recognition for the same by saying, "Had these terrorists [inside Pakistan] not been encountered by us, they would have been roaming in the streets of New York, London, and Far East."
While his weird logic made little sense, it reinforced his predecessor Imran Khan’s 2019 admission that “when you talk about militant groups, we still have about 30,000-40,000 armed people who have been trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir." Hence, instead of expecting kudos from the international community, Sharif needs to explain as to how come such a large number of armed terrorists were still subsisting in Pakistan?

War Mongering

The most disturbing aspect is Pakistan consistently misusing the UNGA podium to brazenly issue threats of violence for achieving its political objectives. For example, no UNGA address by any Pakistani speaker is complete without the non-negotiable caveat that there can be no peace in the subcontinent unless the Kashmir issue is resolved. This needs to be achieved through bilateral dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad without any third party intervention and not through violence.
As such Islamabad’s assertion of peace eluding this region solely because of the unresolved Kashmir issue is but a thin disguise. The fact that this misleading line of argument is unashamedly being used by it year after year for justifying Rawalpindi’s ongoing proxy war in J&K, without any condemnation from the international community is rather unfortunate.

Disinformation Campaign

To add to major factual inaccuracies, Sharif’s address was pregnant with disinformation, a classic example being his misleading take on the Indus Water Treaty [IWT]. By declaring that “any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the waters will be treated as an act of war,” Pakistan’s prime minister even issued a not-so-veiled threat by adding “India must make no mistake about it.”
The fact of matter is that even though New Delhi may have held IWT in abeyance, it has made no attempt whatsoever to stop Pakistan from receiving its legitimate share of water under this treaty. Furthermore, what Islamabad perceives as ‘illegal diversion’ of water is technically legitimate action approved by IWT, that Islamabad sabotaged by selective interpretation of the three-level dispute redressal mechanism provided under Article X of this treaty.
It’s been more than a year since India held IWT in abeyance and Pakistan’s desperate attempt to invoke status quo by trying every trick in the book has ended in a dismal failure. Consequently, while Sharif may have interpreted the orchestrated unprecedented applause from the gallery to his insipid address at UNGA as a spectacular achievement, the truth is that Islamabad has few admirers.

Stern Response

Unlike Sharif, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar did not indulge in histrionics during his UNGA address. Instead, he firmly made it clear to the international community that “A serial practitioner of terrorism has misrepresented facts before this Assembly, seeking to normalise terrorism and claim immunity from its consequences. That will not stand. We will exercise our right to defend ourselves against terrorism.”
Furthermore, by reiterating that “Friendship and goodwill cannot co-exist with terrorism” and adding that understandings premised on that will naturally be called into question,” Jaishankar left no room for any doubts that IWT will remain in abeyance until Pakistan mends it ways and ends cross-border terrorism.
New Delhi’s nuanced response sans any theatrics or threats demolished Sharif’s futile attempt to project Pakistan as a global player in the international arena and his efforts came to naught thanks to India’s scathing response that convincingly exposed the harsh reality of Pakistan’s dubious military dominated “hybrid model” of governance .
In its right to reply, New Delhi clinically dissected Sharif’s unsubstantiated allegations with hard facts. By mentioning that “We heard some hypocritical homilies about democratic rights and human values from a regime whose capital at this very moment is being fortified against its own people,” the Indian spokesperson said it all.
Aptly identifying that the problems in Pakistan are “happening because this is a regime of the army, by the army and for the army,” India’s spokesperson delivered the coup de grâce by adding that “The reality of Pakistan is expressed in its 27th Amendment and the lifelong immunity granted to its real ruler.”
With India making its intention of defending itself against terrorism and on IWT abundantly clear, its Islamabad that needs to decide whether to continue with its policy of confrontation and run the associated risk of facing retributory action or reap peace dividends by abjuring its self-debilitating ant-India strategy. However, since Rawalpindi views normalisation of Indo-Pak relations as a threat to its own supremacy within Pakistan, the military would use every trick in the book to keep the pot boiling.

Email:------------------------nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com