In a veiled attack on Pakistan, India on Tuesday asserted that arguments of “political convenience” to provide an alibi for terrorist organisations are no longer tolerable and the international community should identify states that provide “sanctuary” to terror groups.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, addressing separate meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) here in the Chinese capital, underlined India’s strong opposition to cross-border terrorism and the urgent need to build a strong security architecture to combat the threat posed by it.
In her address at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting, also attended by Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Swaraj raised the issue of global terrorism.
“Terrorism is an enemy of the basic human rights: of life, peace and prosperity,” Swaraj said. The criminal terrorist militias are not impeded by borders as they seek to destroy the architecture of international stability and build walls of fear in societies that believe in pluralism, she said.
“We strongly believe that our fight against terrorism should not only seek to eliminate terrorists but should also identify and take strong measures against States that encourage, support and finance terrorism and provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups,” Swaraj said without mentioning any country.
Addressing the SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting, Sitharaman raised the issue of cross-border terrorism and said the world has now realised that there are no good terrorists. “Arguments of political convenience to provide an alibi for terrorist organisations that support terrorism through material support or otherwise are no longer tolerable. Indeed, as the world has now realised, there are no good terrorists,” she said in the presence of Pakistan Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan.
India and Afghanistan blame Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups such as lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Taliban and the Haqqani Network.
“We must adopt an uncompromising approach towards the persisting threat of terrorism in Afghanistan. India is committed to assist Afghanistan in regaining stability, including cooperation in building capabilities of Afghan security forces,” the Defence Minister said.