SOURCE: TNN
Foreign minister S Jaishankar hit out at Pakistan as being an “egregious example of state-sponsored cross-border terrorism” even as the government aims to robustly counter Pakistan’s latest “terror dossier” gambit.
Indian missions, particularly in the immediate neighbourhood, P5 countries and OIC countries, have mounted diplomatic moves to counter Pakistan’s latest effort to paint the terror tag on India.
On Sunday, the MEA issued a spirited statement against a press conference by Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. On Monday, Jaishankar, addressing the Deccan Dialogue at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, said, “We have, in our immediate neighbourhood, a particularly egregious example of state-sponsored crossborder terrorism. The world is gradually becoming aware of the global nature of international terrorism. Our relentless efforts have kept it in spotlight, bringing out related aspects like terror finance, radicalisation and cyber recruitment.”
According to Indian diplomatic sources, the Pakistan government has been trying to push the “dossier” to audiences in Bangladesh. Similar activities have been reported by Indian missions in other neighbouring countries.
Spokesperson of the Afghan foreign ministry Gran Hewad refuted Pakistan’s charges that India used Afghan soil to launch terror attacks inside Pakistan. “The allegation is baseless. We propose a UN commission to probe the root causes of terrorism in Afghanistan and to examine Pakistan claims,” the spokesperson said.
Tilak Devasher, member of the National Security Advisory Board, tweeted, “Pakistan is back to playing ‘dossier-dossier’. Just as Pakistani foreign minister on November 14 revealed a dossier with ‘irrefutable evidence’ of Indian role in terrorism, Pakistan had handed over three similar dossiers with ‘proof’ to UN secretary general in October 2015. What happened to those?”
Officials said Pakistan was trying to push the “Islamophobia” narrative in the UN, which they said was a thinly veiled attack against India, to claim that India’s diplomatic campaign against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism was little more than an anti-Islamic stand.
