'Abjure terrorism first': India hits back at Hegseth's remarks on US-Pakistan 'true friendship'

India on Tuesday delivered a pointed response to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's description of an emerging "true friendship" between Washington and Islamabad, saying friendly nations should instead press Pakistan to permanently abandon cross-border terrorism.

"We hope our friends and partners would impress upon the country to credibly and irrevocably abjure cross-border terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said when asked about Hegseth's remarks.

The sharp response comes amid renewed US outreach to Pakistan and follows Hegseth's praise for Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Calling the growing relationship between Washington and Islamabad "an unexpected development and a true friendship", Hegseth credited Pakistan's leadership for assisting diplomatic efforts related to the Iran conflict.

He also repeated President Donald Trump's claim that he had helped broker peace between India and Pakistan during last year's military confrontation -- a claim New Delhi has repeatedly rejected.

India's remarks underline its continued unease over attempts to rehabilitate Pakistan's international image without addressing concerns over terrorism.

New Delhi has consistently maintained that the central issue in relations with Islamabad remains Pakistan's support for cross-border terrorism and that any meaningful engagement must be preceded by verifiable action against terror networks operating from its soil.

Notably, while praising Pakistan, Hegseth had also described India as a "critical anchor" of stability in the Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed Washington's commitment to defence cooperation and weapons co-production with New Delhi.