PM Shehbaz said ‘Pakistan controlled its terrorists’ during UNGA speech

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team reviewed the complete speech delivered by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the General Debate of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 26, 2025.

Posts from multiple users on X on September 27, 2025, shared a clip of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaking at the UNGA, claiming he said that it was due to Pakistan controlling its terrorists that they were not roaming western cities. However, the prime minister said no such thing.

The 80th UNGA Session opened in New York on September 9, 2025. The high-level General Debate, considered the highlight of the annual gathering, commenced on September 23. More than 150 heads of state and government addressed the UNGA over the week, outlining their positions on pressing global issues ranging from peace and security to climate change and sustainable development.

HOW IT STARTED

On Sept 27, an Indian propaganda account on X shared a clip of PM Shehbaz speaking during the UNGA session with the following caption and attributed the following quote to the prime minister: “If Pakistan hadn’t controlled its terrorists, they would have been roaming the streets of London and New York.”

The post gained two million views, 3,000 reposts and 12,000 likes.

A post from another known Indian propaganda account shared the same video with the following caption: “Finally Pakistan had officially accepted that Pakistan is a country full of terrorists. Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif said in UN: ‘If Pakistan hadn’t controlled its terrorists, they would have been roaming the streets of London and New York.’”

The post gained over 24,200 views.

The video with the same quote attribution was also shared by Pakistani journalist Waseem Abbasi on X, gaining over 13,200 views.

The same claim was widely shared by multiple other users on X as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, and here and also on Facebook.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the matter.

The transcription of the incomplete clip shared in the posts is mentioned below:

“For that, Pakistan’s sacrifices are probably the biggest around the globe. It must be respected and appreciated because we are a bulwark. Had these terrorists not been encountered by us, they would have been roaming on the streets of New York and London, and God knows far east. So I think this is our humble contribution, not only for the people of Pakistan, but for the people all over the world. Today we face a […]”

The transcription shows a clear discrepancy with the quote attributed to the prime minister in the captions, since, as per the latter, he said Pakistan was preventing terrorism in western cities by controlling “its terrorists”.

However, the transcription shows that he was generally referring to terrorists instead of saying that they were associated or linked to Pakistan in any way.

A keyword search to trace the complete video of the prime minister’s speech yielded his Sept 26 address on the UN’s official YouTube channel.

The transcription of the speech from the 18:56-minute mark to the 19:59-minute mark is as follows:

“And I believe a man killed in New York is a man killed in Lahore. A man killed in Islamabad is a man killed in London. It’s a global village. So I think unless terrorism is defeated hands down, this world will not be a peaceful place to live. And for that, Pakistan’s sacrifices are probably the biggest around the globe. It must be respected and appreciated because we are a bulwark. Had these terrorists not been encountered by us, they would have been roaming on the streets of New York and London and God knows Far East. So I think this is our humble contribution, not only for the people of Pakistan but the people all over the world. Today, we face externally sponsored terrorism, particularly from foreign-funded groups.”

The transcription clearly shows PM Shehbaz made no such remark that could be construed as him admitting to Pakistan having its own terrorists or that controlling them is what prevented their presence in the West.

Instead, he referred to terrorism in a general sense and then more specifically, “externally sponsored terrorism” by “foreign-funded groups”.

While the viral posts shared the original video of the prime minister’s UNGA speech, the clip was incomplete. Moreover, his quote regarding terrorists on the posts was changed, replacing “controlled” with “encountered” and “its” with “these”, which could easily mislead people on social media.

Furthermore, a keyword search revealed no reporting on any such alleged admission or claim by the prime minister from credible mainstream media outlets.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim that a viral video shows PM Shehbaz admitting to Pakistan having its own terrorists and that clamping down on them is what prevented their spread to the West is misleading.

The posts shared the incomplete clip of PM Shehbaz’s speech at the UNGA while extracting a single quote from it and changing its text in two places. Such practices can easily deceive the audience, as the nature of social media is such that consumers do not spend a lot of time on each video or pay attention to the wording and the text. Hence, such content poses more risk of being believed.

Evidence and References

Sept 26, 2025, UN YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUjOjCCLlfU