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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know News India Times (December 20, 2025 - December 26, 2025) December 26, 2025 18 India India Slams Pakistan Calling It “Global Epicentre Of Terror”; Rejects Claims Of “Dispute” Over J-K N ewYork [US], December 16, 2025: India on Mon- day (local time) delivered a stinging rebuttal to Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate on “Leadership for Peace”, firmly rejecting Islamabad’s claims over Jammu and Kashmir’s “unresolved disputes” as “unwarranted”, reiter- ating that the Union Territory along with Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India, and emphasising that they “were, are, and will always remain so.” Referring to Pakistan’s comments during the debate, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassa- dor Harish Parvathaneni, labelled Pakistan as the “global epicentre of terror” while calling it out for using the UN platform to further its “obsessive focus on harming India and its people.” He added that Pakistan, pursuing a divisive agenda, undermines its international responsibilities as a non- permanent UNSC member. “I refer to the statement made by the representative of Pakistan today. India would like to reiterate that the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India. They were, are, and will always remain so. Pakistan’s unwarranted refer- ence to Jammu & Kashmir in today’s open debate attests to its obsessive focus on harming India and its people,” the Ambassador said. “A serving non-permanent Security Council Member that chooses to further this obsession in all meetings and platforms of the UN in pursuit of its divisive agenda cannot be expected to fulfil its designated responsibilities and obligations,” he added. Highlighting Pakistan’s long record of sponsoring terrorism, the Indian envoy strongly defended New Delhi’s decision to place the IndusWaters Treaty in abeyance. He said that although India entered the Treaty 65 years ago in good faith, Pakistan has repeatedly violated its spirit by waging three wars and orchestrating thousands of terror attacks against India. Citing the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 innocent civilians were killed in a religion-based targeted attack, he said this incident clearly underscores Pakistan’s continued sup- port for terrorism. In this context, he stated that India has decided to hold the IndusWaters Treaty in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border terrorism and all other forms of terror. -Ani PHOTO:FILE PHOTO – @INDIAATUN,NYVIDEO GRAB India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathanen Indian Family Of Alleged Bondi Gunman Didn’t Know Of ‘Radical Mindset’, Indian Police Say H YDERABAD, India, Dec 16 (Reuters) – The alleged gun- man shot dead by police during Sunday’s attack on Australia’s Bondi beach was originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and his family did not know about his “radical mindset”, Indian police said on Tuesday (December 16, 2025). Fifteen people were killed in the attack on a Hanukkah event, Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and it is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community. DEGREE IN COMMERCE In a statement providing more details about the man alleged to have carried out the attack with his son as an accomplice, police in the southern Indian state of Telangana said Sajid Akram, 50, had got a degree in commerce in Hyderabad, the large and bustling tech and pharma hub that is the state capital. Akram then moved to Australia in November 1998 to find work and married a woman described as of European origin, with whom he had a son and a daughter. He went back to India six times for family-related reasons such as property matters and to visit his parents but did not return when his father died, the police statement said. It said Akram’s family seemed unaware of his “radicalisation” and it appeared unconnected with India, where police had no “adverse record” of him before he left in 1998. “The family members have expressed no knowledge of his radical mindset or ac- tivities, nor of the circumstances that led to his radicalisation,” the statement said. “The factors that led to the radicalisa- tion of Sajid Akram and his son, Naveed, appear to have no connection with India or any local influence in Telangana.” FAMILY HOME IN HYDERABAD When Reuters on Tuesday visited “Zehra Cottage”, Akram’s family home in the Al Hasnath colony of Hyderabad’s Tolichowki area, a middle-class Muslim neighbourhood, the three-storey build- ing’s gates were shut. No family members were to be seen. Most neighbors were unwilling to speak to reporters. One neighbour said a doctor lived in the house, referring to Akram’s brother. His elderly mother also stays with them, he said. “We heard he (the brother) is a doctor,” said the neighbor, who spoke on condi- tion of anonymity. “This is a silent and peaceful colony. We have never interacted with them or the family. No one in the colony has any criminal history or has attracted police attention before.” Australian police said Akram and his 24-year-old son Naveed, who was identi- fied by Australian media as his alleged accomplice and is in critical condition in hospital after also being shot, had trav- elled to the Philippines last month. The father travelled on an Indian passport and the son on an Australian one, and the purpose of the trip is under investigation, officials said, adding that it was not conclusive they were linked to any terrorist group or whether they received training in that country. By Rishika Sadam PHOTO: REUTERS/FLAVIO BRANCALEONE A woman keeps a candle next to flowers laid as a tribute at Bondi Beach to honour the victims of a mass shooting that targeted a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on Sunday, in Sydney, Australia, December 16, 2025.