NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday slammed the United Nations, accusing the global body of paying only “lip service” to international peace and security while failing to act decisively against terrorism. Speaking at an event marking the UN’s 80th anniversary in New Delhi, he said the organisation’s credibility had been undermined by political bias and structural paralysis, citing the recent Pahalgam terror attack as an example.
“All is not well with the United Nations,” Jaishankar said, warning that the organisation’s decision-making “neither reflects its membership nor addresses global priorities.” He added, “Its debates have become increasingly polarised and its working visibly gridlocked. Any meaningful reform is obstructed using the reform process itself.”Referring to Pakistan’s attempts at the UN Security Council to shield the group responsible for the Pahalgam attack, Jaishankar said, “Few examples are more telling about the challenges facing the UN than its response to terrorism. When a sitting Security Council member openly protects the very organisation that claims responsibility for the barbaric terror attack such as at Pahalgam, what does it do to the credibility of multilateralism,” as quoted by PTI. Though he did not name Pakistan directly, his remarks clearly pointed to Islamabad, which had reportedly tried to remove references to The Resistance Front (TRF) from a UN statement condemning the Pahalgam attack. The TRF, a proxy of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the assault, which killed 26 people, including 25 Indian tourists.Jaishankar also criticised the tendency of some nations to equate victims and perpetrators of terrorism. “Similarly, if victims and perpetrators of terrorism are equated in the name of global strategy, how much more cynical can the world get. When self-proclaimed terrorists are shielded from the sanctioning process, what does it say for the sincerity of those involved,” he said.Broadening his criticism, Jaishankar described the UN’s handling of peace, security, and development as deeply inadequate. “If the maintenance of international peace and security has become lip service, the predicament of development and socio-economic progress is even more serious,” he said, pointing to the slowing pace of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030 agenda as a sign of distress for the Global South.
