South Asia takes the spotlight Friday at UNGA

NEW YORK — South Asia is having quite a day at the United Nations General Assembly.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had a heated exchange with a Pakistani journalist, offering an early flash of the tension between the two countries as their delegations gather in New York.

After the journalist stood up to ask Jaishankar to “tell us when India will stop sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan,” the Indian minister snapped back at him.

“A terrorist country is asking me that question? Come on!” Jaishankar proclaimed.

Later today, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is scheduled to address the General Assembly.

I’m watching for anything he might say about his country’s role in trying to bring an end to the Iran war, as well as Pakistan’s new Mecca Pact with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.

The member countries’ foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, where they discussed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.

“The ministers discussed plans to convene an urgent meeting of the chiefs of staff of the three countries to explore ways to assist the Kingdom under the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, which stipulates that an attack against any one of its parties shall be considered an attack against all parties,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

One leader won’t be taking the podium: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has skipped the gathering for the second year in a row, leaving Jaishankar to represent India while Sharif makes Pakistan’s case before world leaders.

What, if anything, Sharif chooses to say about India may also be worth watching.