In a rare closed-door session at United Nations headquarters, the Security Council on Tuesday pressed Pakistan over its handling of the horrific April 22 assault on pilgrims in Pahalgam, Kashmir, and probed Islamabad’s claims that the atrocity was a staged “false flag.”
Convening shortly after midnight, all 15 Council members—including Pakistan, which currently occupies one of the body’s ten non-permanent seats—urged both New Delhi and Islamabad to pursue direct, bilateral negotiations rather than seeking to internationalize their longstanding dispute.
Diplomatic sources report that representatives from several countries challenged Pakistan to substantiate its denial of any cross-border militant involvement, asking pointedly whether the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, headquartered in Pakistan, could have orchestrated the attack on the group of unarmed tourists. Islamabad’s insistence that New Delhi engineered the massacre as a pretext for crackdowns in Kashmir was met with palpable skepticism.
Council members uniformly condemned the ambush—carried out by unidentified gunmen on a valley road that has become a magnet for domestic and international travelers—emphasizing the imperative of holding the perpetrators accountable. Several delegates highlighted disturbing reports suggesting that the assailants targeted victims on the basis of their religious identity, a factor that intensified calls for a transparent investigation.
Beyond the Pahalgam tragedy, the closed-door meeting also spotlighted Pakistan’s recent series of missile tests and what some diplomats described as “sharpened nuclear rhetoric.” These developments, participants warned, risk exacerbating tensions in a region already fraught with military standoffs.
By demanding answers on both the ground and in Pakistan’s military posture, the Security Council underscored its determination to curb any escalation and to ensure that victims of terrorism receive justice. Islamabad now faces heightened pressure to open its borders to investigators and to return to dialogue with India—an appeal that, if heeded, could mark a critical step toward de-escalating one of the world’s most volatile flashpoints.
