‘Architects Of 9/11 Were Not Hiding In Caves’: India Tells UNSC In Scathing Attack At Pak

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 17: India told the UN Security Council that the architects of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks were not hiding in remote caves or ungoverned frontier areas but were found in settled Pakistani communities, citing their cases to highlight what it described as the continued presence of a permissive environment for terrorist groups.

Speaking at a Security Council meeting on Afghanistan, India’s Permanent Representative Harish Parvathaneni referred to the locations where senior al-Qaeda operatives involved in the 9/11 attacks were captured.

“The leaders of al-Qaeda who conceived and directed these 9/11 attacks did not escape justice in the wilderness of some ungoverned frontier,” Parvathaneni said on Wednesday.

He said Osama bin Laden, who ordered and financed the plot, was eventually tracked down and killed in 2011 in a fortified compound in Abbottabad, while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, described as the principal architect of the attacks, was captured in Rawalpindi in 2003.

The Indian envoy also cited the capture of Ramzi Binalshibh and Walid bin Attash in Karachi and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi in Pakistan.

“In each case, these were not fugitives hiding in caves or badlands, they were men who had long evaded detection,” he said, adding that the international community must address environments that enable terrorist groups to operate.

Parvathaneni said the same environment had, according to India, continued to provide space and support to groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

He urged the international community to prevent terrorist organisations and their affiliates from exploiting identities and networks to evade UN sanctions.

His remarks came days after Security Council members, including Pakistan, visited the 9/11 memorial in Lower Manhattan as the world marked the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

The Council subsequently adopted a Presidential Statement reaffirming its “unequivocal condemnation” of the September 11 attacks.

India also raised concerns over the humanitarian situation of Afghan returnees. Referring to the UN Secretary-General’s report, Parvathaneni said 2.9 million Afghans were returned in 2025 and another 1.15 million had returned by August 22, 2026, with most of the latter returns being involuntary.

India reiterated that such returns should be voluntary, safe and dignified and called for sustained international support for the reintegration of returnees.

It also said it was cooperating with UN agencies and Afghan authorities to provide housing, food and other essential assistance to affected people.

India further condemned what it termed “trade and transit terror inflicted” on Afghanistan, saying such actions violated relevant UN declarations, WTO norms, the UN Charter and international law. (Agencies)