Caught on camera: Cornered over Hafiz Saeed & terror haven, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif keeps schtum

A day earlier, India delivered a strong rebuke to Pakistan at the United Nations, telling Islamabad to focus on its debt-ridden economy rather than harbouring territorial ambitions or sponsoring cross-border terrorism.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif refused to answer questions on UN-designated terrorist Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed and allegations of Pakistan harbouring terrorists as he arrived at and later left the United Nations headquarters in New York on Thursday.

As Sharif entered the UN headquarters, an ANI reporter asked him: “Prime Minister, when will you stop harbouring terrorists?”

The Pakistani Prime Minister did not respond.

Later, as Sharif left the UN headquarters, the news agency again questioned him, this time asking, “When will you prosecute Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed?”
Sharif once again refused to answer.

The exchange came during Sharif’s visit to the UN headquarters for the 81st UNGA. The incident was captured on camera.

Hafiz Saeed named in Pahalgam case

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist and a Pakistani national from Sargodha in Punjab province, is a designated terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and the founder of the proscribed terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Saeed is wanted as an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case. More recently, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has alleged that the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack was orchestrated by Pakistan-based operatives of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba.

In its supplementary chargesheet in the Pahalgam terror attack case, the NIA named LeT founder and designated terrorist Hafiz Muhammad Saeed as Accused No. 8, alleging his involvement in the larger conspiracy behind the attack.

India rebukes Pakistan at UN

A day earlier, India delivered a strong rebuke to Pakistan at the United Nations, telling Islamabad to focus on its debt-ridden economy, which survives on bailouts, rather than harbouring territorial ambitions or sponsoring cross-border terrorism.

Exercising its right of reply at the UN Human Rights Council, Indian diplomat Kshitij Tyagi criticised what he described as Pakistan’s diversionary tactics, asserting that its hostile posturing would do nothing to rescue its failing financial system.

“Pakistan would better serve its people by focusing on development, rather than by coveting territory of others or exporting terror, because neither these nor its theatrics in the Council would help repay the loans its economy survives on,” Kshitij Tyagi said.

Tyagi also highlighted what he described as Pakistan’s suppression of civilians and acute humanitarian crises in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where widespread protests met with lethal state violence and blockades on essential supplies such as food, fuel and medicine.

“This Council was told last Friday of scores of civilians killed since June in the territory Pakistan occupies, of students arrested in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and of food and medicine held back. When those accounts were given, Pakistan’s answer was a point of order. If any delegation in this room meets every objective criterion for this Council’s scrutiny, it is Pakistan,” Tyagi said.

Pakistan's Prime Minister is scheduled to address the 81st United Nations General Assembly today, where he is expected to repeat Islamabad's familiar rant about Kashmir. But ahead of that address, Sharif chose not to respond when confronted with questions over Pakistan's safe haven for terrorists.

(with ANI inputs)

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