The finger of blame was pointed at Pakistan for India’s terror threats, but will anything change?
In a recent counter-terrorism conference held in Jaipur, India, Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, said that the majority of the terror threats on India originate from terrorists operating in Pakistan.
Mr Singh went on to say that New Delhi, India’s capital and political powerhouse will stand by and work with Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad to strike down any potential threats to India and take ‘decisive action’ if required.
India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, who also addressed the conference in Jaipur last week, urged the international community to step up and ‘name and shame’ those organisations known to be involved with and supporting terrorist activities. He stated that: ‘Tolerance of terrorism must be frankly exposed. Naming and shaming of perpetrators, supporters of terrorism must be carried out relentlessly’.
Mr Jaishankar then went on to say that India and Pakistan were in regular contact with each other and that communication was strong between the foreign secretaries and national security advisors to discuss possible methods of quashing future attacks. In the light of the recent Pathankot airbase attack, launched on the 2nd of January on part of the Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force in which six soldiers were killed, he said that India has provided Pakistan with all the necessary evidence required to investigate the matter further.
As the conference was nearing its conclusion, Mr Singh added the following:
‘Certain states in India still use terrorism as an instrument of their foreign policy’.
‘Most terror attacks on India emanate from Pakistan and so Pakistan has to show some sincerity and take concrete steps to rein in terror groups operating against India from its soil’.
‘The Government of India will of course stand by Pakistan if it takes decisive action against terrorists and their organisations … It will not only improve bilateral ties of the two countries which have been increasingly strained of late, but it will also bring peace and stability in the entire South Asian region’.
‘India has advanced intelligence input which will help our security agencies in neutralising the possible impact of future terrorist attacks’.
‘After the Pathankot terror attack, the government is reviewing its counter-terror strategy. We are now formulating an effective strategy which will help prevent such terror attacks in future’.
Mr Jaishankar also said that countering terrorism was an important imperative for Indian diplomacy today. He cited Bangladesh as a model for counter-terror cooperation, saying that they were cooperating fully with the Indian Government. ‘But the problem is bad guys think global while the good guys think local and sometimes departmental. We need to think of both to combat these threats effectively’ he concluded.
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