In his first major speech after the Pathankot terror attacks, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said the world has failed to rein in “States that support terror.”
Speaking at an international conference on counter-terrorism here on Tuesday, Mr. Doval said: “We have gone to the periphery, the symptoms but not the vitals of terrorism. The vitals are the States that have given support to terror. There must be adequate deterrence for them.”
In what appeared to be a veiled reference to Pakistan, Mr. Doval said the world must identify States that give terrorists “arms, funds, safe havens and support at the international stage.”
His speech also seemed to make a specific reference to leaders like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar when he called on the international community to stop countries that “shield those terror leaders from the international justice system against whom ample evidence of guilt has been provided”.
When asked by The Hindu , Mr. Doval said he was not referring to any one country but to several countries that would fall into the category of States that support terror.
However, his remarks take a particular significance as they may indicate India’s growing frustration with the lack of any visible action from Pakistan on the Pathankot attacks against the JeM group suspected of carrying out the attacks.
Despite appointing special teams and convening high-level meetings, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government has not yet taken Masood Azhar in for questioning or debilitated the JeM’s operations in any way.
While Azhar has been making speeches freely and even made a statement daring the Pakistan government to arrest him, investigating officials have reportedly drawn a blank on the evidence handed over by India.
On Saturday, leading newspapers quoted unnamed officials as saying that the details of the five mobile numbers India says the terrorists called in Pathankot had yielded no results.
“The probe is not heading further. The team needs more evidence. Therefore, it has written to the government to speak to India and apprise it of the situation and demand more evidence to move forward in the investigation,” the official was quoted in the Dawn as saying.
Meanwhile, talks between the Foreign Secretaries of both the countries that were expected to be held “in the near future” after they were put off on January 14 are yet to be scheduled, as senior officials said the “atmosphere was still not conducive” for them.
‘World must analyse’
Making a global pitch at the conference that saw delegates from 25 countries participating, Mr. Doval said the world must analyse why 15 years after the 9/11 attacks in the US, terrorism had grown instead of being defeated.
“Where are we in 2016?,” asked Mr. Doval, adding that “Terror casualties are 320% higher than in 2001. Geographically, terror groups have spread to areas they have never been seen in before, and States have spent multi-fold figures on fighting terror.”
The National Security Advisor’s remarks made common cause with the other major speakers at the conference that was organised by the India Foundation spearheaded by BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and analyst Shaurya Doval, Mr. Doval’s son.
Earlier, President Pranab Mukherjee spoke of “addressing issues of ideology and dealing with countries that sponsor or support terrorism,” while Iranian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Ibrahim Rahimpour who speak about the threat posed by the Islamic State and support from Gulf States to the terror group.
Significantly, no speakers are expected from Pakistan or Saudi Arabia at the conference attended by 350 delegates from 25 countries. Organisers said while three delegates from Pakistan had been invited, they cancelled their attendance shortly before the conference co-organised by the government of Rajasthan.
Speaking at the event, Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah said it was necessary for a “regional forum” to counter terror in South Asia urged “our neighbours to discontinue differentiating between good terrorists and bad terrorists.”
“We must put aside all double standards in the fight against terrorism and apply our domestic counter-terrorism policies and laws to tackling the threat of terrorism at the regional and global levels,” he said.
