India urges UN to confront terror threat, points to Bin Laden’s hideout

India has once again criticised Pakistan over what it described as state-backed support for terrorism, telling the international community that several of the world’s most wanted terrorists were eventually found not in remote or “ungoverned” areas, but in populated civilian locations.

Addressing the UN Security Council (UNSC), India pointed to al-Qaeda figures linked to the 9/11 attacks, including Osama bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, saying they had been living in urban areas rather than isolated hideouts.

“The leaders of al Qaeda who conceived and directed these 9/11 attacks did not escape justice in the wilderness of some ungoverned frontier,” India said. It cited the 2011 US operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which Osama bin Laden was killed inside a fortified compound in a populated area.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UNSC, Harish Parvathaneni, said a similar “permissive environment” continues to provide space for terrorist organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

The two groups were among the targets of India’s Operation Sindoor in May 2025, during which India said it struck terror infrastructure, including training facilities and launch sites, deep inside Pakistan.

Parvathaneni also accused the groups of evading the UNSC sanctions regime by adopting new identities. He called on the international community to act collectively to ensure that terrorist groups do not continue to find safe havens.

He said the environment that had sheltered the planners of the 9/11 attacks had subsequently continued to provide “space, support, and impunity” to al-Qaeda affiliates, including LeT and JeM, whose leadership and training infrastructure, he alleged, had been shielded from consequences.

“The international community must join hands to address the continuity of such sanctuary,” Parvathaneni said, stressing the need to prevent further loss of lives and suffering caused by terrorism.