All but Pakistan add voice to India’s concerns
The whole-hearted endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to combat terror, by all of India's neighbours except Pakistan, is one of the important takeaways from the 18th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Terrorism is a common regional threat, and it can only be effectively tackled when all parties join hands. This has been proven time and again through cases of bilateral cooperation. For example, India has had a reasonable amount of success in curbing terror activities in its eastern and north-eastern borders after the Government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina clamped down on anti-India activities on Bangladeshi soil.
More recently, when the tables seem to have turned somewhat, with terrorists plotting attacks on Bangladesh from India (for example, the Burdwan bomb blast case), close cooperation between intelligence and security agencies of the two countries has ensured that the investigation moves at a fast pace. Such cooperation would not have been possible without the blessings of the political establishment on both sides. The story is much the same with Nepal, where too terrorists take advantage of porous borders and seek refuge. In fact, only last month, an Indian accused in the Burdwan blast case was arrested from Nepal. Previously, India and Nepal had also cooperated to end the reign of terror unleashed by Maoists in the Himalayan nation, and bring the Red ultras into the social and political mainstream.
The scourge of terror also extends to the far south of the Indian subcontinent as Sri lanka's long fight against the liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam stands testimony. Today, the Sri lankan military has defeated the terror group, but, as President Mahinda Rajapaksa noted in his speech in Kathmandu, “Terrorism still remains a fundamental security challenge, both regionally and internationally, and Sri lanka cannot remain complacent in maintaining safeguards against its possible resurgence”.
But here too, Sri lanka alone cannot stamp out the lTTE, for example, Tamil terrorists continue to have sympathisers in Indian States. Moreover, while the region is still fighting old threats, new ones are mushrooming in places that were hitherto considered safe. Maldives is one such example — the exotic island nation is now emerging as an Islamist terror hub. Incidentally, religious fundamentalists had targeted the previous Saarc summit in Male in 2011 and vandalised some of the gifts that Maldives had received from other member states.
And then there is the Afghanistan-Pakistan dynamic, the biggest security threat to the region. Unsurprisingly, the strongest comments against terror came from the new Afghan President, Mr Ashraf Ghani. He has the unenviable task of shielding his war-torn country from insurgents patronised across the border. While President Ghani's assurances to Prime Minster Modi about protecting Indian interests in Afghanistan are welcome, the fact is that regional security will be in jeopardy as long as Pakistan continues with its devious ways. That Pakistan chose not to support the fight against terrorism, speaks volumes; and so does its Prime Minister's refusal to express solidarity with the victims of the 26/11 terror attack executed by Pakistani terrorists with the help of Pakistani logistics.