India looks to undercut Pakistan on world stage

India has begun steps to undercut Pakistan at international fora, working to thwart any attempt by Islamabad and its ally Beijing to divert attention from the issue of terrorism at the United Nations Security Council and asking the International Monetary Fund to review loans to the neighbouring country, people aware of the matter said on Friday.

- Rezaul H Laskar

The development came hours after US vice-president JD Vance said Washington wanted to see Pakistan cooperate with India to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people last week.

"Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that does not lead to a broader regional conflict...And we hope, frankly, that Pakistan, to the extent that they're responsible, cooperates with India to make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with," Vance told a Fox podcast.

The April 22 attack - the worst on civilians in Kashmir in nearly two decades - coincided with Vance's trip to India. His comments came after Union defence minister Rajnath Singh spoke to his US counterpart Pete Hegseth and secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke to external affairs minister S Jaishankar.

Against the backdrop of reported efforts by Pakistan, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2025-26, to rope in China to either table a resolution or call an extraordinary meeting on the Pahalgam terror attack at the world body, the Indian side has reached out to both permanent and non-permanent members in recent days to ensure the focus remains on the central issue of cross-border terrorism, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

At the same time, India has raised concerns with IMF on its loans for Pakistan and sought a review, one of the people said without giving details. The decision in this regard was made over the last few days, the person added. Another step being eyed by the government is to approach the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to put Pakistan on its "grey list" over concerns related to terror financing, the people said.