The damaged rooftop of Bilal Mosque is seen after it was hit by an Indian strike, in Muzaffarabad on May 7, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

India’s strikes on Pakistan were not an escalation, but a “response” to the Pahalgam terror attack, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told envoys of 13 of 15 countries in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The 14th member, Pakistan’s envoy, was not invited to the briefing held hours after India’s actions at South Block, but included China’s envoy to India, Xu Feihong. Sierra Leone wasn’t present at the meeting as they don’t have an envoy here.

In New York, the Indian Permanent Mission is also reaching out to the UNSC members, government sources said.

Also Read: Operation Sindoor LIVE: We only killed those who killed our innocents, says Rajnath Singh

During the meeting, Mr. Misri reiterated that India’s response to the “barbaric” Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 were killed was “targeted, measured and non-escalatory”, and aimed at deterring and pre-empting more attacks being planned against India. He also said that by “shielding” The Resistance Front (TRF), by insisting on its omission from the UNSC resolution released last week, Pakistan had itself escalated the situation. He said that India would respond to any military escalation by Pakistan at this point.

According to the sources, the Foreign Secretary was asked a number of questions about the operations in the early hours of Wednesday, from the envoys of the 13 countries including China, France, Russia, U.K., U.S. and non-permanent members Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Slovenia and Somalia. He denied suggestions that India had “escalated tensions” as the strikes were a response and said India’s objectives of targeting nine sites had been met. In particular, when asked by U.K. High Commissioner Lindy Cameron about whether Indians had targeted civilians in mosques that were visibly damaged, Indian officials said that the target were terror camps that were inside larger complexes. According to diplomatic sources, Mr. Misri was also asked about damage to Indian military and civilian infrastructure, to which he replied that it was “too early to tell.”

The special briefing is believed to be a part of a larger strategy to reach out at the U.N.’s top body, to thwart moves by Pakistan, a non-permanent elected member for 2025-26, that has permanent member China’s support, from holding any meetings or issuing statements that hurt India’s interests, and to hold the TRF and other groups in Pakistan to account on U.N. forums, including the 1267 committee for terrorists designations, and the Financial Action Task Force that looks into terror-financing and money-laundering (AML/CFT) among member-states.

Earlier, briefing the media at Delhi’s National Media Centre, Mr. Misri had recounted in detail how India has raised the issue of Pakistan’s support to the TRF and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, of which the TRF is a front outfit, at various U.N.-linked forums. 

As The Hindu had reported, Pakistan, with support from China, had ensured the UNSC statement draft on the Pahalgam attack issued on April 25 was watered down, and insisted on omitting reference to the TRF, and changed a sentence that asked members to cooperate with the “Government of India” to “all relevant authorities” for the investigation into the attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Pakistan’s pressure to remove references to TRF in the April 25 U.N. Security Council Press Statement is notable in this regard,” Mr. Misri said.

He also said that India had given inputs about the TRF in the half-yearly report to the Monitoring Team of the U.N.’s 1267 Sanctions Committee in May and November 2024 and prior to that as well, “bringing out [TRF’s] role as a cover for Pakistan-based terrorist groups”.

During the briefing Mr. Misri said that in the Pahalgam attack, investigations had revealed the “communication nodes of terrorists in and to Pakistan”, and said LeT handles had reposted the initial claims by TRF that it had carried out the attack. He also said that Indian authorities had identified the attackers on the basis of eyewitness accounts and other evidence pointed to the planning and support of the TRF terrorists. The MEA did not confirm whether India would request a listing under the UNSC 1267 terror designations resolution soon, but it is understood to be working on a dossier for a request.

Mr. Misri also castigated Pakistan for its record of backing such groups and attempting to “wilfully mislead” the Financial Action Task Force, which grey-listed Pakistan on three occasions (2008-09, 2012-2015 and 2018-2022). He made a particular reference to the “glaring example” of Sajid Mir, an LeT commander wanted for the Mumbai attacks who was convicted in Pakistan for terror charges. While Pakistani officials maintained for years that Mir was dead, they declared him alive and arrested him in a quick trial in May 2022 on terror charges under pressure from the U.S., that had put him on the FBI’s most wanted list for involvement in a number of terror plots. India’s consistent efforts to have him listed on the UNSC’s terror designations have however been blocked by China.