India has delivered a strong rebuttal to Pakistan’s claims at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), stating that Pakistan’s military had “pleaded” for a cessation of hostilities during Operation Sindoor in May 2025.
The operation had been launched by India in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed, an attack claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
According to India’s statement at the UNGA, till May 9 Pakistan was issuing threats of further strikes. However, following extensive Indian attacks on Pakistani terror infrastructure and military installations — including the destruction of multiple Pakistani airbases — the Pakistani military directly requested cessation of hostilities on May 10. India asserted that publicly available images of damaged runways, burnt hangars, and destroyed assets in Pakistan disproved Islamabad’s claims of victory.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, speaking earlier at the UNGA, claimed that his country had repulsed India’s “attacks” and destroyed seven Indian jets. He further credited U.S. President Donald Trump’s intervention for facilitating a ceasefire, while positioning Pakistan as negotiating from a “position of strength.” Sharif also attempted to bring Kashmir back onto the agenda, reiterating Pakistan’s long-standing line of internationalising the issue.
India dismissed Pakistan’s narrative as “absurd theatrics,” describing Islamabad’s attempts to glorify terrorism as central to its foreign policy doctrine. Petal Gahlot, First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, emphasised that the cessation of hostilities was not due to U.S. mediation but the result of direct military-to-military talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the two countries — and only after Pakistan’s military faced significant losses.
In its response, India underscored Pakistan’s continued sheltering of terrorists tied to Lashkar-e-Taiba. Gahlot referred to viral images of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Abdul Rauf leading prayers in Muridke following Indian strikes on LeT’s headquarters, a ceremony also attended by Pakistan Army personnel. India also criticised Pakistan for publicly glorifying slain terrorists whose bases were targeted during Operation Sindoor in cities such as Bahawalpur and Muridke.