India continued to keep up the pressure on Pakistan over its support for terrorism

NEW DELHI: India continued to keep up the pressure on Pakistan over its support for terrorism on Friday. Speaking at a conference organized by a US government-funded organization, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar shot down Islamabad’s usual ‘non-state actor’ defence for terror attacks carried out from its soil.

“At some stage the differentiation is not gone out on the ground. There is a connect between state actors and non-state actors. Which is why we use the word ‘sponsored’. The state cannot escape responsibility by saying it’s non-state,” Jaishankar said.

“We have always maintained the view that acting against some groups is not a justification for giving a free pass, leave alone active support, for other groups. You can’t have a segmented, differentiated fight against terrorism ,” he added.

This was the third time in a week that India and the US have spoken in one voice on the issue of terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made statements on this during his visits to the G20 Summit in China and the ASEAN Summit in Laos.

Each time, India has stressed without naming Pakistan that there is only one country in South Asia that is a fountainhead of terrorism+ in the region.
Jaishnakar’s remarks were part of his speech titled ‘India’s Diplomatic Initiatives’ at the 2016 International Media Conference organized by the US government-fundedEast-West Centre. His was the first keynote address of the conference.

Jaishankar also used the platform to bring China into the terrorism debate, saying, “There is an expectation in India that China would be appreciative of India’s interests, especially when they aren’t in conflict with China. Combating terrorism is one such area. Sanctioning of well-known terrorist leaders and organizations shouldn’t emerge as an issue of difference,” said Jaishankar said, referring to China’s blocking, presumably at Pakistan’s behest, India’s United Nations bid to designated Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar a terrorist.

Ironically, China has for decades had trouble with terrorism networks and camps in Pakistan that it believes have been used to train separatists fighting in the restive Xinjiang region. Its was one of these groups that has been linked to therecent attack on the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan ‘s capital of Bishkek.

He also called out China for its opposition to India’s bid at becoming more integrated with global governance, especially its bid for membership to the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) and its support for free access to Sea Lanes of Communication in the South China Sea.

Bureau Report