Not normal to tolerate Pak’s continued use of terror as instrument of state policy: India
United Nations (PTI): In a strongly-worded retort in the UNSC, India said it is not normal to tolerate Pakistan’s continued use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy, as New Delhi hit back at Islamabad’s envoy for advancing a “false and self-serving” account of Operation Sindoor.
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, delivered a sharp response to comments made by Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad.
Ahmad spoke about Operation Sindoor, Jammu and Kashmir and the Indus Waters Treaty in his remarks at the UN Security Council open debate on Monday on ‘Reaffirming International Rule of Law: Pathways to Reinvigorating Peace, Justice, and Multilateralism.’
Harish said Pakistan, an elected member of the Security Council, has a single-point agenda - to harm India and its people.
With Ahmad telling the Council that Pakistan’s response to Operation Sindoor “established that there can be no ‘new normal’ based on coercion or impunity", Delhi slammed Islamabad, with Harish asserting that terrorism can never be normalised as Pakistan wishes to do.
"We have heard talk from the Representative of Pakistan about the new normal. Let me reiterate again that terrorism can never be normalised as Pakistan wishes to do. It is not normal to tolerate Pakistan’s continued use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy," Harish said, adding that India will do whatever is required to protect and ensure the safety and security of its citizens.
"This hallowed chamber cannot become a forum for Pakistan to legitimise terrorism,” Harish said.
Harish said Pakistan’s envoy “advanced a false and self-serving account” of Operation Sindoor, launched by India in May last year, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
“The facts on this matter are clear. Pakistan-sponsored terrorists killed 26 innocent civilians in a brutal attack in Pahalagam in April 2025. This august body itself called for holding the perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and brought to justice. That is exactly what we did,” Harish said.
Harish’s reference was to the press statement issued by the Security Council in April last year.
In the statement in which the 15-nation body had condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Pahalgam and had “underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice”, with the Council stressing that those responsible for these killings should be held accountable.
Harish underscored that India’s actions in Operation Sindoor were measured, non-escalatory, and responsible, and focused on dismantling the terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists.
“Till May 9, Pakistan was threatening more attacks on India. But on May 10, the Pakistani military called our military directly and pleaded for a cessation to the fighting,” he said, adding that the destruction caused to multiple Pakistani airbases by the Indian operation, including images of destroyed runways and burnt-out hangars, is in the public domain.
Hitting out strongly at Pakistan for raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, Harish said Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on matters that are internal to India.
“The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” he said.
On the Indus Waters Treaty, Harish said India had entered into the agreement 65 years ago in good faith, in a spirit of goodwill and friendship.
“Throughout these six and a half decades, Pakistan has violated the spirit of the Treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India. Thousands of Indian lives have been lost in Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks,” he said.
In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, Harish said India was “compelled to finally announce that the Treaty will be held in abeyance until Pakistan, a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border and all other forms of terrorism.”
Further, India asserted that Pakistan is well advised to introspect about the rule of law.
"It could start by asking itself how it has let its armed forces engineer a constitutional coup through the 27th amendment and giving life-time immunity to its Chief of Defence Forces,” a reference to the 27th Constitutional Amendment passed in November last year under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that gives Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir lifelong immunity from any legal prosecution.
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Not UN’s role to regulate AI, says Guterres as world body plans annual global dialogue
United Nations (PTI): It is not the UN’s role to regulate AI, Secretary General Antonio Guterres has emphasised as he pointed to an annual global dialogue being planned at the international organisation on AI with participation from all countries, governments, private sector as well as civil society.
Guterres will soon be arriving in New Delhi to attend the India AI Impact Summit, the first-ever summit on Artificial Intelligence hosted in the Global South.
In an exclusive interview to PTI ahead of his visit to India for the Summit, Guterres outlined efforts by the international organisation aimed at global cooperation on Artificial Intelligence (AI), emphasising that these are “perfectly in line” with the strategy demonstrated by India in its leadership of the AI summit.
Guterres highlighted three key areas under the Global Digital Compact initiated at the UN to contribute towards the global AI architecture.
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The first is the creation of a new high-level Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence comprising 40 experts from around the world.
The UN General Assembly last week appointed the 40 members recommended by Guterres to the independent panel.
Head of the Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) at IIT Madras Balaraman Ravindran is among the global group of 40 distinguished experts recommended by Guterres to serve on the panel for a three-year term from date of appointment.
Guterres said that through the panel, “We will have a totally independent and universal…scientific body (that will be) able to tell the world at each moment where are we in relation to AI? What are the advances that were made? What are the discoveries that were established? What are the risks of (various) mechanisms or instruments, and to do it in a totally independent way.”
He described this as a “fantastic source” of information for governments to take the right decisions in policies and measures in relation to AI and “for the people at large to know public opinions, in democratic countries like India that is very important.”
Guterres also pointed to an annual global dialogue being planned at the UN on AI with participation from all countries, governments, private sector as well as civil society.
Emphasising that it is not the UN’s role to regulate AI, Guterres said the global dialogue will be a “platform where everybody can come and everybody can discuss, and where we can learn with each other and eventually come to some possible consensus on the best way to maximise the opportunities of AI and minimise its risks.”
Lastly, he expressed hope that his proposal of a fund will be approved.
“There was an agreement in the General Assembly in order to support developing countries to build capacity to be able to benefit from AI. So these are three very important contributions of the UN and I believe that these contributions are perfectly in line with the strategy that India has demonstrated in the leadership in the preparation of the present Summit,” he said.
The UN chief has proposed a voluntary global fund of up to three billion dollars to support countries in the field of AI capacity building.
The Global Digital Compact, adopted at the 2024 Summit of the Future, had set out a shared vision for an open, safe and inclusive digital future.
Among its commitments was the creation of an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI to advance scientific understanding and ensure that international deliberations are informed by the best available evidence, the UN has said.
Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, told reporters that Guterres is scheduled to participate in the Summit’s opening ceremony, a plenary with heads of state and government, as well as a session on the role of science in international AI governance.
The Secretary-General will have bilateral meetings with President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will also meet with other global and tech leaders attending the Summit, as well as members of the International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence.
While in India, Guterres is also scheduled to take part in a roundtable organised by the UN to discuss renewable energy and energy transition.
"With India emerging as a global leader in renewable energy expansion, the discussion will bring together senior figures from industry, finance, policy and civil society to identify concrete steps to further accelerate renewable energy deployment, strengthen grids and storage, and mobilise investment at scale.
“This engagement is part of the Secretary-General’s continued efforts to advance a faster, fairer and more inclusive global energy transition, aligned with the Paris Agreement,” Dujarric said.
United Nations India said in a statement that over 30 events organised by the UN system are scheduled during the five-day summit, and will include sessions on AI for resilient agriculture, health systems innovation, ethical AI governance, women’s leadership in technology, digital capacity-building in the Global South and responsible business practices.
The statement by the UN in India said that discussions will focus on “how AI can accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals while safeguarding human rights and addressing emerging risks”.
At the Summit, Guterres will be joined by senior UN leaders, including UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk; Under-Secretary-General and UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology Amandeep Singh Gill and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction Kamal Kishore.
Also participating are Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva; Director-General of the International Labour Organisation Gilbert Houngbo and Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union Doreen Bogdan-Martin.
