External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar on Friday (September 25, 2026) gave a sharp rebuttal to a Pakistani journalist who tried to disrupt his press briefing at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
The incident happened when Dr Jaishankar was addressing the media along with Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Pakistani journalist attempted to interrupt the session by hurling accusations that India has been sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan.
“When will your government stop sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan?” the Pakistani journalist asked Dr. Jaishankar, who shut him up with a fitting response. “A terrorist country is asking me that question? Come on!” the Indian External Affairs Minister hit back at the Pakistani reporter by calling out Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism in India.
A Pakistani reporter tries to disrupt EAM Jaishankar's presser over allegations concerning Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) September 25, 2026
EAM Jaishankar responds: “A terrorist country is asking me that question?” pic.twitter.com/s7uvJGmH5E
The press briefing centred on the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers was a remarks-only briefing. Nonetheless, the Pakistani journalist tried to put the External Affairs Minister in a spot by hurling baseless allegations at him. However, instead of dodging the Pakistani journalist’s question, Dr Jaishankar gave him a fitting response.
This incident happened a day after Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif refused to answer an Indian journalist’s question about Pakistan-based, UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed. The Indian journalist asked the Pakistani Prime Minister when the Pakistani government would take legal action against Saeed, who is named in several terror attack cases in India. The Pakistani PM dodged the question and walked away without addressing it.
This did not happen once but twice. First, the Indian journalist asked a question about terrorism when Sharif was entering the UN headquarters in New York. The second time, the journalist again questioned Sharif about terrorism when he was leaving the headquarters. Both times, Sharif avoided addressing the questions and walked away.
Pakistan has been harbouring terrorists and sponsoring cross-border terrorism for a long time. India has several times called out the country for its proxy war. Last year, India launched a military action against terror launch pads located inside Pakistan, and Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir after the ghastly Pahalgam terror attack.
Hafiz Saeed’s terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and its proxy, The Resistance Front (TRF), were behind the Pahalgam terror attack in which terrorists killed 25 Hindu tourists after identifying their religion. In the aftermath of the terror attack, the Indian forces carried out Operation Sindoor and eliminated multiple terror camps in Pakistan.
