Permanent Mission of India
New York
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81st Session of the UNGA Sixth Committee on Agenda Item 112:

“Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism”

Statement by Shri Biplab Kumar Deb, Member of Parliament
6 October 2026

Thank you Chair,

India congratulates you and the members of the Bureau on their election and thanks the Secretary-General for his report.

Madam Chair,

2. Terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism, remains one of the gravest threats to humanity with implications for international peace and security, economic progress, democratic order, and human rights. It attacks the most fundamental right of every human being - the right to life. Terrorism is the antithesis of the values of the UN.

3. There can be no justification whatsoever for deliberately targeting civilians. There is no distinction between “good” and “bad” terrorism. India considers terrorist attacks to be attacks against humanity. As India’s Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi said QUOTE: “We consider that even a single attack is one too many and even a single life lost is one too many.” UNQUOTE

Madam Chair,

4. Terrorist organizations are increasingly exploiting emerging technologies for recruitment, radicalization, propaganda, operational planning and terrorist financing. Their anonymity, global reach and speed enable them to evade law enforcement and increasingly target vulnerable youth.

5. The international community must strengthen and modernize its collective CT efforts through sustained international cooperation. A key gap remains the absence of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), despite India’s draft circulated in 1996. India reiterates that an early conclusion of the CCIT would strengthen the international legal framework to comprehensively counter terrorism.

6. We also believe that paragraph 3 of Security Council resolution 1566 provides important elements for advancing our discussions. It identifies acts involving serious violence against civilians and other specified conduct, and makes clear that such acts cannot be justified by any considerations.

Madam Chair,

7. India understands from bitter experience that the threat of terrorism is not theoretical; it is a persistent and daily reality. For decades, our people have suffered from cross-border terrorist violence. The terrorist attack in Pahalgam in April 2025 again demonstrated the devastating human cost of terrorism. The Pahalgam terror attack was a calculated assault on our sovereignty, planned and executed by networks that continue to enjoy state patronage, safe havens, and material and logistical support from across our western border. The New Delhi Declaration, adopted by the BRICS summit on 12th September 2026 not only strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam but also condemned any acts of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, whenever, wherever and by whosoever committed.

Madam Chair,

8. India emphasizes six priorities in counter-terrorism:

• ending double standards and ensuring accountability for all perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors;
• disrupting terrorist financing through stronger financial intelligence and effective FATF implementation;
• addressing the misuse of emerging technologies;
• placing victims of terrorism at the centre;
• strengthening demand-driven, nationally owned capacity-building for the Global South; and
• confronting the ideology and infrastructure sustaining terrorism while addressing conditions conducive to terrorism.

Our objective cannot be merely to review strategies; it must be to implement them. The UN GCTS must remain focused on its core purpose. India has hosted major international initiatives, including the No Money for Terror Conference and the INTERPOL General Assembly in 2022. India is actively participating in FATF proceedings and deliberations. We have supported capacity-building and have consistently advocated stronger multilateral action. Earlier this year, we launched our National Counter Terrorism Policy and Strategy (PRAHAAR). It is aimed at strengthening India’s national mechanisms for prevention of and responding to terror attacks, through a whole of society approach as well as through strengthening of international cooperation.

Madam Chair,

9. I also address now the statement delivered by the Chair of the OIC on India’s focussed and measured actions against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India were planned and directed. It is regrettable that those delivering the statement are unable to separate fact from fiction and distinguish between victim and perpetrator. India retains the right to defend its people against cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. Indeed, there will be consequences for indulging in terrorism.

10. I also refer to OIC’s unwarranted reference to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. The OIC Chair would do better to focus on Pakistan’s illegal occupation, especially in Rawlakot – where wanton killings, brutal violence and the denial of basic rights to the people living there are so visible. Such willful blindness only speaks of bigotry and intolerance.

11. In conclusion, India calls upon the Member States to work together against terrorism and to building a stronger, more effective international response.

I Thank you.

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