India looks to undercut Pakistan on world stage
India is working to counter Pakistan's narrative on terrorism at the UN and IMF, seeking global support after a deadly attack in Pahalgam.
India has begun steps to undercut Pakistan at international fora, working to thwart any attempt by Islamabad and its ally Beijing to divert attention from the issue of terrorism at the United Nations Security Council and asking the International Monetary Fund to review loans to the neighbouring country, people aware of the matter said on Friday.
The development came hours after US vice-president JD Vance said Washington wanted to see Pakistan cooperate with India to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people last week.
“Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that does not lead to a broader regional conflict…And we hope, frankly, that Pakistan, to the extent that they’re responsible, cooperates with India to make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with,” Vance told a Fox podcast.
The April 22 attack – the worst on civilians in Kashmir in nearly two decades – coincided with Vance’s trip to India. His comments came after Union defence minister Rajnath Singh spoke to his US counterpart Pete Hegseth and secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke to external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
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Against the backdrop of reported efforts by Pakistan, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2025-26, to rope in China to either table a resolution or call an extraordinary meeting on the Pahalgam terror attack at the world body, the Indian side has reached out to both permanent and non-permanent members in recent days to ensure the focus remains on the central issue of cross-border terrorism, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.
At the same time, India has raised concerns with IMF on its loans for Pakistan and sought a review, one of the people said without giving details. The decision in this regard was made over the last few days, the person added. Another step being eyed by the government is to approach the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to put Pakistan on its “grey list” over concerns related to terror financing, the people said.
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“Whatever happens at the UN Security Council, we would like to see that India’s concerns about terrorism and its cross-border linkages are taken on board. The UN Security Council has to speak in one voice and the outcomes must be favourable,” a second person said, requesting anonymity.
“There can be no let-up in the global fight against terrorism,” the second person said, pointing to China’s veto power and its long history of intervening on behalf of China at the UN Security Council. China used a “technical hold” to block the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief (JeM) Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council for almost a decade before relenting in the wake of the Pulwama suicide bombing in 2019.
Between April 29 and May 1, external affairs minister S Jaishankar dialled his counterparts from the nine other non-permanent members in the UN Security Council – Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Panama, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Somalia – to brief them on India’s position on the Pahalgam terror attack and the need to combat terrorism and punish the perpetrators.
While speaking to his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul on Thursday, Jaishankar “underlined the need to combat terrorism in all forms and manifestations”, according to a social media post. In a phone call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 29, Jaishankar said, “India is resolved that the perpetrators, planners and backers of this attack are brought to justice.”
India’s efforts assume significance in view of Pakistan’s efforts to work with China to dilute a press statement on the Pahalgam terror attack issued on April 25 by inserting a mention of “Jammu and Kashmir” in it and by dropping a reference to The Resistance Front, a proxy for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that initially claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris, Greece’s permanent representative to the UN who holds the Security Council’s rotating presidency for May, told PTI on Thursday that the body could meet “sooner rather than later” to discuss tensions between India and Pakistan.
“If a request comes for a meeting, then...I think this meeting should take place because...maybe it’s also an opportunity to have views expressed and this might help to defuse...tensions,” he said. “We are in close contact...but this is something which might happen...sooner rather than later.”
Sekeris alluded that an “extraordinary meeting” of the UN Security Council is possible if the tensions between India and Pakistan do not abate.
Greek foreign minister George Gerapetritis was among the counterparts dialled by Jaishankar and following their conversation on April 29, he said in a social media post: “Discussed the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Welcome Greece’s firm opposition to cross-border terrorism. Our strategic partnership reflects the depth of our ties.”
Another possible option being considered by the Indian side is a briefing for the UN Security Council on the Pahalgam attack, which will give New Delhi a seat at the table and effectively counter any move by Pakistan, the people said.
In tandem with these efforts, the Indian side is exploring measures at IMF and FATF that could put the squeeze on Pakistan, which secured a $7-billion bailout programme from IMF in 2024 and was granted a $1.3-billion climate resilience loan in March.
The IMF programme is critical for Pakistan, which has said it has stabilised under the bailout that helped it overcome a default threat. The adviser to Pakistan’s finance minister, Khurram Schehzad, told Reuters on Friday that the IMF programme is “well on track”.
Pakistan was earlier placed on FATF’s “grey list” between 2018 and 2022 for its failure to tackle terror financing, especially the activities of UN-designated terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). However, for such a move, India will have to secure the backing from among FATF’s 40 members and then ensure the measure is approved at the next meeting of the global financial watchdog’s plenary meeting in June.
Since the attack, India has worked to build a global consensus against Pakistan. The strike exposed Pakistan as a rogue state destabilising the region, and the world can no longer turn a blind eye to terrorism, Singh told Hegseth on Thursday, hours after Rubio expressed sorrow at the loss of lives in the “horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam” and reaffirmed the US’s “commitment to cooperation with India against terrorism”.
Last week, a group of heavily armed terrorists emerged from the woods and targeted tourists on the Baisaran grassland near Pahalgam. Twenty-six people, 25 of them tourists and 24, Hindu were killed in the attack that was reminiscent of the heyday of terrorism in the 1990s and 2000s and the worst to rock the country since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba’s proxy, The Resistance Front (TRF), initially claimed responsibility for the attack. New Delhi has since identified three Pakistani terrorists and tracked their digital footprints to underline Islamabad’s role in the attack.
New Delhi has announced a raft of punitive measures, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, the closure of its airspace to Pakistani aircraft, the expulsion of most Pakistani nationals, and the closure of the only operational land border crossing at Attari. Pakistan has unveiled several counter-measures such as closing its airspace to Indian airliners and suspending all trade and offered to participate in an independent investigation of the attack.
