India’s recent efforts to highlight Pakistan’s role in promoting terrorism is unprecedented, veteran diplomats have observed.
Taking up Pakistan’s role in South Asia, Mr. Modi said at the Hangzhou G20 meet, “Indeed, one single nation in South Asia is spreading these agents of terror in countries of our region.” He followed this up with his comments at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India summit where he referred to the challenge from “export of terror” by some countries.
OIC meet on Kashmir
Mr Modi’s comments at the G20 and ASEAN drew attention as Pakistan’s position on Kashmir has received support from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary-general of the Saudi Arabia-headquartered organisation visited Islamabad on August 20 and planned further actions on Kashmir in the future. As a follow-up, the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir will hold a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly from September 19-22.
The Hindu reported on Friday that India’s diplomatic strategy at the United Nations will be determined by the line Pakistan will take in the General Assembly session in New York, which begins on September 17. “We will watch Pakistan’s strategy and respond appropriately,” a top official said.
Diplomats say that in view of Pakistan’s official position on Kashmir, India is not left with any other alternative but to respond by putting the charge of financing terrorism on Pakistan.
“There has never been a consensus on terrorism in the world but the disturbances in the West Asian region has for the first time given India a card with which it can counter Pakistan’s continued quest for Indian territories,” said former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh. The campaign to sensitise the world of India’s strategy began weeks before the UN.
As Pakistan intensified interaction with the OIC by spotlighting the Kashmir issue, Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar travelled in August to terrorism-affected countries like Syria, Iraq and Lebanon to engage them in dialogue with India. Support for India also came from Egypt when the leader of the Arab block in OIC, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, visited Delhi and declared a “security and defence partnership” with India.
Dawood extradition
A section of the case against Pakistan was presented on August 26 by the officialspokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup, who confirmed that the terrorism-specific 1267 Committee of the UN has a copy of Dawood Ibrahim’s Pakistani passport in its global terrorism database. He highlighted that Pakistan had given “sanctuary” to a person wanted for terrorism against India. “India continues to maintain that it is incumbent upon Pakistan to extradite this global terrorist to whom they have provided sanctuary for a very long time to face justice for his many crimes. We hope Pakistan will heed international opinion on this issue,” Mr. Swarup said.
India’s UN initiatives are likely to receive support from the counter-terror convention, which is likely to come up during the upcoming UN General Assembly session. However, the UN session this month is likely to see a tough encounter between India and Pakistan as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has indicated that he will raise the Kashmir issue at the UN.
